Tollywood questions guild’s ban on movie firm

KOLKATA: While pressure is mounting on the Eastern India Motion Pictures Association (

EIMPA

) and the Directors’ Guild of Federation of Cine Technicians and Workers of Eastern India (FCTWEI) to call off the July 25 strike, many are questioning why FCTWEI has continued to not allow technicians to shoot with Eskay Movies for ‘Tui Shudhu Amar’ in Kolkata. A month ago, it had stalled the London shooting of ‘Chalbaaz’, causing a loss of Rs 1 crore.

“A meeting was held in presence of minister Arup Biswas, producer Shrikant Mohta, FCTWEI president

Swarup Biswas

and director Rhitobrata Bhattacharya. There, Swarup agreed to lift the ban. If he lifts the ban, we won’t go on a strike,”

Krishna Daga

, chairman of the producers’ section of EIMPA.

However, Swarup Biswas said, “One production house is not following rules. The discussion on how to address the issue has begun. We have not withdrawn the ban.”

To protest FCTWEI’s ‘highhandedness’, Arindam Sil has cancelled his July 25 shoot of a Hindi short film in Kolkata with Mumbai actors and technicians. “Whatever FCTWEI is doing will not get support from the government. When the London shooting was disrupted, I thought that only Eskay Movies has this problem. Now I stand corrected. Shootings shouldn’t be stalled. Discussions should resolve problems. However, FCTWEI doesn’t listen,” Sil concluded. While Ghosh pointed out that allowing the problem to linger this long smacks of a “wrong intention”, director Shiboprosad Mukherjee called the FCTWEI ban “illegal”. Director Aniket Chattopadhyay said FCTWEI’s ban shows there is an “ill-motive behind penalising one production house”.

“With so many people talking about how FCTWEI has harassed them, there is no rational behind saying why the problem happens repeatedly with my production house,” said Himanshu Dhanuka of Eskay Movies.