Film studios wear deserted look in Kolkata as shooting impasse continues

Kolkata: The stalemate over shooting for Bengali films and other OTT content continued in the metropolis on Tuesday, as studios wore a deserted look in the absence of technicians and directors.

The deadlock was created after technicians walked out of the studio floor of an unnamed project of filmmaker Rahool Mukherjee on the first day of shoot on July 27, standing their ground to boycott the director, alleging that he “violated shooting norms”.

A spokesperson of the West Bengal Motion Pictures Artists Forum said no shooting for any film, web series or mega serial took place on Tuesday, too.

Though the main gate of the Indrapuri Studio in Tollygunge area was open, the entrance points to most floors inside were locked, film industry sources said.

Similar scenes were witnessed at the NT 1 Studio, Technicians Studio and Bharatlakshmi Studio in the southern part of the city and its outskirts.

The impasse, which began last Saturday, has now stretched for three more days, splitting the fraternity into two with a section of producers, directors and actors choosing to express solidarity with the “outcast” director, and deciding to go for an indefinite cease work on shooting floors from Monday “till the problem is addressed in an amicable manner”.

Lashing out at a section of producers-directors for ceasing work “without notice”, which brought all scheduled shoots to a halt on Monday, the federation of cine technicians called the move a “conspiracy”.

The federation declared that it would finalise its next move on the ongoing impasse based on feedback from its members through means of a signature campaign.

The announcement followed the call for an urgent need for review and arbitration of existing “rules” in the Bengali film industry, which senior fraternity members deemed as a “stranglehold” of imposed norms leading to a “significant decline in investment” in the regional showbiz sector over the past decade.

The opinion was voiced on Monday by a section of producers, directors and senior actors who huddled at the residence of superstar Prasenjit Chatterjee, as filmmaking at the Tollygunge studio enclave came to a standstill amid the impasse over technicians' refusal to work under a young director for a project.

“We are ready for talks on the issue. But why should work in the industry be unilaterally stopped at the whim and fancy of a handful of directors? This is a pre-planned conspiracy,” said Swarup Biswas, President, Federation of Cine Technicians and Workers of Eastern India.

Meanwhile, urging both sides to sink differences, the Eastern India Motion Pictures Association (EIMPA) said in a statement that the situation has turned very disturbing and depressing.

"We want work to resume at the earliest for the interest of everyone in the industry. And it is our sincere wish that long-standing relationships of the industry are maintained as before," the apex body of film producers, distributors and cinema hall owners said.