The shooting of a music video by actor-director Anirban Bhattacharya scheduled for Monday had to be cancelled as the technicians allegedly stayed away from work.
“This is the second time in a fortnight that the shooting was stalled for technicians not showing up,” Bhattacharya said.
A section of directors and the Federation of Cine Technicians and Workers of Eastern India have been at loggerheads for months. An association of directors, including some leading names in the industry, has long accused the federation of “ruining” their work environment by imposing its diktats.
Bhattacharya is one of the petitioners against the federation in Calcutta High Court.
On Monday, Bhattacharya said he was targeted for approaching the high court against the federation.
“This is the second time this has happened. The shooting of the music video was stalled in mid-June after technicians did not turn up. The same thing happened today,” he said.
According to him, several technicians had initially agreed to be associated with the project.
“Some later refused. Some did not respond, and some said they would be in trouble if they came. Even though it was a small project that would have wrapped up in 12–13 hours, no one turned up. I informed the guild secretaries so that they could provide us with a makeup artist or a dresser, but nobody answered,” he said.
Bhattacharya, who recently completed shooting for Raghu Dakat as an actor, said the technicians had no problem working with him when he was acting under a director.
“When I try to do something independently, they are not showing up,” he said.
Monday’s shooting was scheduled to take place at the Jogesh Mime Academy in Kalighat.
Swarup Biswas, Trinamool Congress leader who heads the federation, said: “The federation was not aware of any shooting by Bhattacharya.”
Sorted, says Biswas
In a news conference on Monday evening, Biswas claimed that differences between the federation and directors of television serials, which had created difficulties in the shooting of serials and stalled shootings at times, had been resolved.
“Shooting cannot be stalled at any cost. We have to work together as a family,” Biswas said.
The producers and senior officials of at least three entertainment channels were present at the news conference.