KOLKATA<\/b><\/p>\n
Controversy broke out in the Bengali film industry on Saturday, with technicians refusing to attend the shoot of an upcoming film by director Rahool Mukherjee in Kolkata citing violations of prior agreements and sparking outrage among the community of Bengali film directors against stringent restrictions of the cine workers\u2019 federation. <\/p>\n
On Saturday morning, chaos broke out at the Technicians\u2019 Studio where the actors of the film, like Prasenjit Chatterjee and Dev along with Mr. Mukherjee, had arrived on set for the film\u2019s first day of shoot, but no technician was present. <\/p>\n
This comes a day after the Directors\u2019 Guild lifted an earlier ban on Mr. Mukherjee, in connection with him allegedly filming parts of Lahu<\/i> in Bangladesh, a production registered with the Eastern India Motion Pictures Association (EIMPA), using technicians from that country. This move allegedly violated the norms of the EIMPA and Federation of Cine Technicians\u2019 Workers of Eastern India (FCTWEI). <\/p>\n
After Mr. Mukherjee was suspended from working by the Directors\u2019 Guild, film production company SVF Entertainment redelegated Mr. Mukherjee as the film\u2019s creative producer and assigned Soumik Halder as the new director. Mr. Mukherjee is still under a three-month ban imposed by the FCTWEI. <\/p>\n
\u201cTechnicians are eager to work on this film, but not when Mr. Mukherjee is on the floor as the film\u2019s director. That was the case when technicians reached the set this morning, which is why they walked out,\u201d FCTWEI spokesperson Sujit Kumar Hazra said on Saturday. <\/p>\n
Film technicians affiliated with the FCTWEI accused Mr. Mukherjee of depriving local talent by not hiring the requisite number of local technicians for his shoot in Bangladesh, as stipulated in the rules of the EIMPA. \u201cWhen we received the call sheet for the shoot this morning, it said Rahool Mukherjee is the director. We will not work on the film if that is the case because that is a violation of what was agreed upon,\u201d Anadi Sahu, a technician said on Saturday. <\/p>\n
\u201cTechnicians will resume work without disruptions when Soumik Halder is present on set as the director. In case of any other issues, the Federation is willing to conduct dialogue with directors to resolve them,\u201d FCTWEI president Swaroop Biswas told reporters on Saturday, adding that any changes to the agreement with SVF regarding the shooting of the given film will only happen through an emergency general meeting. <\/p>\n
\u201cI am working very hard to make this film, and I want to make it in peace,\u201d Mr. Mukherjee said on Saturday. <\/p>\n
Several renowned Bengali film directors, like Raj Chakraborty, Srijit Mukherjee, Sudeshna Roy, Kaushik Ganguly and others gathered at the Technicians\u2019 Studio on Saturday morning in support of Mr. Mukherjee, accusing the FCTWEI of strongarming them with stringent rules and contributing to the decaying condition of the film industry. <\/p>\n
\u201cAre they implying that a shoot can take place without a director? We are giving two days for the Federation to reconsider their decision, after which directors will boycott shoots from Monday,\u201d film director and Trinamool Congress MLA Raj Chakraborty said on Saturday. \u201cIf directors are not present on the shooting floor, can the shoot take place?\u201d <\/p>\n
He added that the technicians\u2019 boycott of the shoot on Saturday is a direct insult to all film directors. <\/p>\n
\u201cHalting the shoot without reason today is very unfortunate, especially when work in the Bengali film industry has already dwindled. 90% of the work that used to happen in the Bengali film industry earlier does not happen anymore,\u201d actor and Trinamool Congress MP Dev said. He also emphasised that the directors\u2019 outrage against the technicians\u2019 boycott is \u201cnot politically coloured.\u201d<\/p>\n
He is one of the lead actors in the film that was to be shot in the studio today. Another lead actor of the film, Prasenjit Chatterjee, appealed for a resolution to the issue out of love for filmmaking. \u201cWe are all emotional people. We cannot create if we do not love and respect each other,\u201d Mr. Chatterjee said. <\/p>\n
Renowned Bengali actor and director Parambrata Chatterjee claimed that such stringent rules exist not in any other film industry in India but in Bengal. \u201cBecause of the Federation\u2019s rules, Bengal is the only place where producers are forced to hire more technicians than we require,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n