PART I: Why stars dodge taxes PART II: Passing the parcel PART III: The snake eats his own tail

But when it came to finance, apparently, he wasn't very up-to-date. A source close to him reveals that a few years ago, this star wanted some of the perquisites of fame and success that most professionals acquire in time: Credit cards, car loans, home loans, etc. All those wonderful credit perks of the executive lifestyle.

But to his shock, he found he was not eligible for the particularly prestigious credit card he wanted, nor could he get the loan he desired.

The reason was that he was apparently showing such a small net income that he didn't meet the requirements of the bank in question! No doubt, it's a snooty American bank, but after all, this is a major movie star we are talking about.

Finally, our source tells us, he had to enlist the help of his CA, who then showed a higher net income for the star and his secretary, and only then were they able to get the loans and plastic he wanted. But even then, a flat remained in his secretary's name and so did one of the cars, because the star's income was still not enough to cover all those purchases he wanted to make!

Stories like this are a dime a dozen in the film industry. Again, our source in the IT department tells us that during the recent August raids, one actress broke into tears. Not because she had been caught with a suitcase full of cash, but because she couldn't explain how she had paid for the several hundreds of pairs of shoes she possessed.

Now, owning shoes may not be a crime. But the fact that these stars lead such extravagant lifestyles begs the question: Why don't they behave with dignity matching their status?

Is it really worth concealing those huge incomes just to be able to pile away a few extra lakhs, or even tens of lakhs?

Hollywood stars like Tom Cruise and Harrison Ford live and work in a country where the highest tax bracket is a whopping 70% of declared income. And yet they declare all their income and pay all their taxes. The IRS doesn't need to raid their houses and check their bank lockers to find their true assets. And when they receive a share of the profits of their hits -- often amounting to as much as $ 50 million per movie in the case of stars like these two and several others -- they declare that and pay taxes on it as well.

Here in India, the highest bracket is a mere 40%. After deducting huge amounts of legitimate expenses, including an almost unlimited entertainment expense account (which is probably most of their expenditure anyway!), they still have to pay only 40%. Yet they resort to the most cliched and hackneyed tactics to conceal their income and cut their taxes.

Even if stars are trapped in a system where cash earnings means extra earnings, they can always say No to those distributors, financiers, producers who bring those petis (lakhs) and khokhas (crores) of cash to their doorstep. They can insist on and get all-cheque payments, thereby forcing everybody else to legitimise and clean up their financial dealings.

After all, a major film can't be made today without a star's approval. All it takes is three golden words from them -- full cheque payment -- and the entire film industry would have to sudhaaro its hera pheri.

Unless of course, they can't bear to part with the gold that those three golden words would cost them.