Tollywood comes to a standstill as directors demand ‘neutral third party’ intervention

Film and television shooting floors in Bengal fell silent as directors, including Anjan Dutt, Kaushik Ganguly, and others, decided to strike until their demands were met.

Rahool Mukherjee, Prosenjit Chatterjee and Anirban Bhattacharya

The busy shooting floors went silent on Monday and directors decided not to shoot unless their demands were met. Technician’s Studio, Dasani, and other places remained empty. Koel Mallick shot Mahalaya on Sunday. The shooting was supposed to continue today also. The directors association decided to not work hence the shooting stopped. Even on Monday, they decided to continue with the strike as long as the issue — which started with the suspension of Rahool Mukherjee and snowballed into a bigger protest — is not resolved. 

On Monday, a large number of film and television directors, including Anjan Dutt, Kaushik Ganguly, Indranil Roychowdhury, Shiboprosad Mukherjee, Debaloy Bhattacharya, Anirban Bhattacharya and others met at Prosenjit Chatterjee’s residence. In the evening, they met the media and clarified their stand. They demanded changes on a series of policies in the presence of a ‘neutral third party’.  

Kaushik Ganguly pointed out that the Bengal entertainment industry has been suffering due to faulty policies. “There was a time when Mani Ratnam came and did his shooting here. Nobody comes here anymore because of the policies. They run away. Instead of Darjeeling, Barfi had to go to Mussoorie,” the director said.

Elaborating on this, Indranil stated that it is important to have a body consisting of learned people from legal and film backgrounds and decide the policy. After their press meeting, it became evident that the issue has now become bigger than Rahool being reinstated as the director.   

Earlier, the Directors’ Association of Eastern India Motion Pictures, in its statement, said ‘The members are requested to abstain from the shooting floors till the issue gets resolved’. The statement also said ‘The decision was taken by respecting the majority of the directors’ emotion and opinion.’ A statement was shared on social media which said ‘Yesterday, shooting of a Bengali film, directed by Rahool Mukherjee, was to be held in the Technicians’ Studio. The technicians belonging to the Federation did not go to the floor and the shooting could not be started. The director and the cast present there were gravely insulted.’ The statement also said that the directors would go on a strike from Monday till the Federation agrees to start the shooting, accepting Rahool as the director. The directors’ guild lifted the ban on Rahool Mukherjee, but technicians from the other guilds continued non-cooperating. 

Artists Forum started to negotiate between the two warring factions. On July 28, West bengal Motion Pictures Artists’ Forum released a statement, saying that they were ready to search for a solution so that every artist, cast, and crew in Tollywood could go on working without any non-cooperation. The Forum’s president Ranjit Mallick requested everyone so that the shootings do not get hampered. 

Share