Amid the ongoing rift between film directors and technicians in the Bengali film industry and an indefinite halt in production work across studios in Kolkata, the president of the technicians’ body Swarup Biswas claimed on Monday that a “pre-planned conspiracy” has been hatched to bring the industry to a halt.
Most film and television shoots stood cancelled across Tollywood studios on Monday following a pledge by Bengali film directors to boycott shoots from Monday in protest of “stringent regulations” by the technicians’ body, the Federation of Cine Technicians and Workers of Eastern India (FCTWEI). The protest by directors came after a walkout by film technicians from the set of director Rahool Mukherjee, who had allegedly violated norms set by FCTWEI and the Eastern India Motion Pictures Association (EIMPA) by reportedly shooting parts of Lahu in Bangladesh with technicians from that country, without notifying the technicians’ bodies.
Mr. Biswas highlighted that as per the last agreement between the film’s production house SVF Entertainment and the FCTWEI following Mr. Mukherjee’s alleged norm violation, Soumik Halder was made the new director of the film and Mr. Mukherjee, the creative producer.
“Technicians will work on the film’s set as long as that arrangement is respected,” he reiterated on Monday, adding that stopping all shoots was not the FCTWEI’s doing. According to Mr. Biswas, technicians boycotted Mr. Mukherjee’s shoot on Saturday as he was allegedly referred to as the director on the call sheet, violating SVF’s agreement with the technicians’ body.
Simultaneously, other directors like Raj Chakraborty, Kaushik Ganguly, Sudeshna Roy, and others condemned the FCTWEI in support of Mr. Mukherjee after the technicians’ walkout on Saturday, and pledged to boycott shoots Monday onwards if the FCTWEI did not reconsider its decision.
The Directors Association of Eastern India in a statement on Sunday night, said, “In deference to the wishes and sentiments of majority of directors, the association has decided to go for indefinite cease work on shooting floors from Monday (July 29) till the problem faced by directors are addressed in an amicable and proper manner.”
“We welcome dialogue with the directors and we want to keep working with them, however, there has been no direct communication with us from their end till now. Without any discussion with us, they shut down the industry today,” Mr. Biswas claimed on Monday, amid technicians shouting “We do not accept Rahool Mukherjee”.
Mr. Biswas added that the Federation had also okayed late-night and early-morning shoots scheduled between the late hours of Sunday and wee hours of Monday and had encouraged technicians to attend those shoots. “Despite that, the Federation is being accused of halting shoots today,” he said. He added that even one day of cancelled shoots would lead to crores of losses for the industry.
FCTWEI joint secretary Sujit Kumar Hazra claimed that technicians have cooperated with directors and producers even under dire circumstances, including in shoots that go on for 21 to 26 hours. “Technicians are daily wage workers, which means we are under the no-work-no-pay system… Directors shutting down all shoots on Monday in this manner is very undesirable,” he said.
Meanwhile, many film directors on Monday requested a swift resolution to the ongoing conflict. “Let us all let go of our egos and work together to take this industry forward and attract more investment,” director and Trinamool Congress MLA Raj Chakraborty said on Monday.
Director Gautam Ghose said directors do not wish technicians to incur losses or lose out on work for even a single day. “But we have a few conditions for conflict resolution. Both parties have to be involved in this decision-making, this stalemate cannot be resolved by just one party. We need reciprocal dignity,” Mr. Ghose said.
“Directors are also technicians, everyone should remember that. We should not be othered in this discussion,” director Shiboprasad Mukherjee said.
Earlier, directors and producers had highlighted the “stringent rules” of the FCTWEI, claiming that it has played a significant role in the overall decay of the Bengali film industry and the decrease in its output. “90% of the work that used to happen in the Bengali film industry earlier does not happen anymore,” actor and Trinamool Congress MP Dev said on Saturday. Actor-director Parambrata claimed that under the Federation’s rules, Bengal is the only place where producers are forced to hire more technicians than necessary.
