‘It was political stranglehold, now let Tollywood breathe’: Industry voices rise after TMC’s electoral setback

KOLKATA: Like Bengal, Tollywood is also facing the seismic political shifts. Former minister and Tollygunje candidate Aroop Biswas, who along with his brother Swarup, held sway over Tollywood was defeated by actor Papia Adhikary.Among the victorious candidates from the glam world, five – Rupa Ganguly, Rudranil Ghosh, Hiran Chattopadhyay, Agnimitra Paul and Sarbori Mukherjee – are from BJP while Nayana Bandyopadhyay is the lone Tollywood winning candidate from Trinamool. Bratya Basu, Raj Chakraborty, Indranil Sen, Soham Chakraborty, Arpita Ghosh, Sayantika Banerjee, Birbaha Hansda, Aditi Munshi, Lovely Maitra and Shrreya Pande – all Trinamool's glam candidates – lost the battle.Tollywood is now demanding a reset after years of serving as one of the ruling party’s most dependable support bases through star netas, candidates and campaigners. At the centre of the backlash are Aroop and Swarup Biswas, accused of tightening a stranglehold over the industry and embodying a culture of diktats, bans and political meddling. Producers faced pressure over hiring, exhibition and release decisions, while dissenters risked being pushed out. The demand now is not just to end the ban culture, but to overhaul Nandan and dismantle the wider power structure that, many say, turned Tollywood into a climate of fear rather than creative freedom.One of Tollywood’s biggest problems was the repeated enforcement of unwritten diktats by Federation of Cine Technicians & Workers of Eastern (FCTWEI) led by Swarup Biswas. Producers were expected to hire a fixed number of workers. Projects backed by political leaders had to get prime slots. Worse, actors including Anirban Bhattacharya and directors including Subrata Sen, Indranil Roychowdhury among others were “banned” after legally questioning this system. Though star TMC MP Dev tried to change that perception, all eyes were on the poll results to see if the “ban culture” would finally end. “The moment politics entered the film industry, things went downhill. Many of my fellow exhibitors received phone calls with strict instructions to run certain films. Only time will tell if this system will change. The film industry has to become a priority. I am hopeful of change,” said Priya’s owner Arijit Dutta.Producer Himanshu Dhanuka is more vocal. “We fought this regime since 2016 — when no one was willing to speak, Eskay Movies did. Shoots were stalled even in London, bans were imposed, and letters to the then chief minister went unanswered. What happened in Tollywood wasn’t union activism — it was a political stranglehold dressed up as worker protection. Tollygunge has voted for change. Now let Tollywood breathe," Dhanuka said.Director-producer Pijush Saha has given a clarion call for change. “We have to end the tyranny of the Biswas brothers and their yes-men. People were scared to invest in Bengal because of their arm-twisting. BJP’s cultural wing will ensure that Tollywood’s golden age is revived,” he said.Distributor and exhibitor Satadeep Saha told TOI that from Tuesday, producers should be free to hire as many actors and technicians as a shoot requires. “How dare Swarup Biswas’s Federation ban people in Tollywood? Technicians will be hired based on a film’s needs. It’s also time to review every guild card he has issued. Political beliefs should not decide who gets a guild card,” he said.Saha alleged political interference in exhibition decisions. He said he received a government notice asking why he was not screening ‘Korpur’, starring TMC’s Bratya Basu and Kunal Ghosh. “I had screened ‘Dhurandhar 2’ instead. I replied that the producer of ‘Korpur’ owed me Rs 2.5 lakh. I was willing to screen the film if the state government ensured my dues were cleared. My mail went unanswered. Producers must have the right to decide which film to release and when,” he said.The functioning of Nandan is another sore point regarding delay in payments and “unfair decisions” about film screenings. “If a film is screened at Nandan, producers get paid after a year. That must stop. Payment should be made within four weeks of screening,” he said. He also alleged that screening decisions have been overturned. “Nandan’s screening committee has approved films, only for the decision to be reversed by Nabanna. An impartial screening committee should decide which films are to be shown at Nandan. If a filmmaker seen as close to the TMC makes a good film, that too should be screened,” he said.