Tough times in Tollywood

Bengali film industry faces turmoil over technician hiring rules, single-screen cinema closures, and lack of quality content.

The unthinkable happened with Prosenjit Chatterjee on July 27. The actor, one of modern Bengali cinema’s stars, left without shooting after a long wait for technicians to turn up at a film studio in south Kolkata’s Tollygunge.

Celebrated Bengali movie director Rahool Mukherjee faced a similar situation at Technicians’ Studio, among the oldest in eastern India. Mukherjee knew he was the primary reason behind the studio lockout that saw 50-60 people protest. The Federation of Cine Technicians’ Workers of Eastern India (FCTWEI) had banned him from the Bengali film industry — casually called Tollywood — for three months for violating its norms during the filming of the Bangladeshi series, Lohu. The ban was lifted after Mukherjee apologised in writing.

The federation’s first condition was that all Bengal-based filmmakers take local technicians to shoots outside West Bengal, in India or abroad. The second was that directors from outside Bengal hire technicians locally if they shoot in the State. The justification was that these conditions would help sustain technicians as the Bengali film industry offers very little work these days. Film producers and directors complained that the conditions compelled them to hire certain technicians they do not need and pay them just to avoid being banned by the federation.

Matters came to a head when some producers and directors defied the federation’s diktat, leading to the studio lockout. Almost a week of uncertainty ended when Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee intervened, and the shooting of films resumed on July 31. “From directors to light boys and sound recordists and hairdressers and spot boys — all stakeholders will henceforth act in cohesion, leaving no room for conflict or misunderstanding,” veteran director Goutam Ghose said after meeting the Chief Minister.

But the impasse left a bitter taste in the mouths of many involved with the industry. “I am trying to make a film through a lot of hardship. I should be allowed to shoot the film peacefully,” Mukherjee says.

“Halting shooting without reason is unfortunate, especially when 90% of the work in the film industry has dwindled,” says actor and Trinamool Congress MP Dev, insisting that the technicians’ boycott was not politically motivated. Renowned filmmakers and actors such as Raj Chakraborty, Srijit Mukherjee, and Kaushik Ganguly feel the deadlock could have been avoided.

Krishna Narayan Daga, former president of the Eastern India Motion Pictures Association (EIMPA) and owner of the production company Daga Films, says producers are losing interest in making movies because of the federation’s strict conditions. “The rules make it mandatory for us to hire women make-up artists even if there is no woman actor in a movie,” he says.