Swarup Biswas, the president of the Federation of Cine Technicians & Workers of Eastern India, blamed the Director’ Association of Eastern India (DAEI) for the continuing imbroglio in the Bengali film and television industry and gave a veiled threat to the directors.
Ahead of meeting state minister Aroop Biswas and minister-of-state in-charge of information and cultural affairs Indranil Sen on Friday, filmmakers and directors stayed away from the studio floors while the actors, actresses and technicians arrived as per the call time.
“There are three directors who have not turned up for shooting. Rest of the work is going on normally. We have a meeting with the ministers in the evening. I don’t know why the directors have taken this decision, but they should know their limits,” Biswas, the younger brother of the state minister Aroop Biswas told media persons.
Among the directors who reportedly did not turn up for shooting is filmmaker and Trinamul legislator Raj Chakraborty.
“The Federation knows how to protect its members. Earlier technicians had to work for 18-19 hours. The Federation fought to bring it down to 14 hours a day. For whose benefit was it done?” asked Biswas. “They are challenging the Federation, which has 8,000 members from various guilds. The directors are also a part of the Federation. Why don’t they contest the polls, win and change the rules? Remember, we can stop your selection.”
Trouble between the Federation and the DAEI sparked Tuesday when work on director Srijit Roy’s new serial got stopped as artisans preparing the set did not turn up.
Roy was the third director after Kaushik Ganguly and Jaideep Mukhopadhyay to have earned the wrath of the Federation in recent weeks.
The Directors’ Association of India, headed by Subrata Sen, had decided Thursday evening to stay away from the shooting floors from Friday.
“We are not speaking about the security of directors only. Technicians are also being suspended and blacklisted. They do not have the voice. We are giving voice to the voiceless. I want to tell all the artists and technicians we are not fighting this battle for ourselves. We do not want to stop shootings,” Sudeshna Roy, secretary DAEI told The Telegraph Online. “The Federation is trying to create a wedge between the directors and other members of the fraternity”
“We feel insulted at the turn of events. Directors are called captains of the ship. Filmmakers like Kaushik Ganguly (winner of several national awards) don’t deserve such treatment. It will be in the fitness of things that directors also stay away from shoots unless our demands are looked into in writing,” Roy said.
She said the directors demand, among others, written assurance by the federation about facilitating start of work for their projects soon, written promise that no director can be blacklisted by verbal or written order.
“We also feel if the federation has any objection about any particular director, that has to be conveyed to the DAEI which will initiate talks with the federation on the issue,” Roy added.
Ahead of the meeting, the DAEI has demanded that the Federation give a written reply to the questions raised by the association, the three “blacklisted” directors be given written assurance that they can start work on their projects, a written assurance that no director will be blacklisted, a list of technicians (for each project, film or series) will be submitted to the Federation but its permission will not be mandatory and shooting will not be stopped.
The DAEI has also demanded that in case of any trouble with any individual director, there would be discussions, but he or she cannot be stopped from continuing their work.
