Tollywood standoff: Directors, Federation meet after court order
KOLKATA: Exactly a year ago, CM Mamata Banerjee stepped in to ease the tension between the directors and the Federation of Cine Technicians and Workers of Eastern India (FCTWEI) in Tollywood. Back then, a delegation including Prosenjit Chatterjee, Dev Adhikari, and Gautam Ghosh met the CM, urging her to resolve the deadlock. An agreement was reached to form a review committee to revise the Federation’s rules.
The revised guidelines were supposed to be submitted within three months. But a year has passed, and that committee was never formed.
Later, 13 directors moved the Calcutta High Court, alleging that the Federation’s arbitrary rules were hampering their work.
On Friday, the conflict took a decisive turn. Acting on Justice Amrita Sinha’s directive, a key meeting was finally held at Rabindra Sadan in the presence of Santanu Basu, Principal Secretary, Information & Cultural Affairs, Government of West Bengal. For the first time in nearly a year, the petitioning directors and FCTWEI President Swaroop Biswas sat face-to-face.
Filmmakers present included Parambrata Chatterjee, Anirban Bhattacharya, Sudeshna Roy, Subrata Sen, and Bidula Bhattacharya. The directors, who had been demanding such a dialogue for months, looked relieved.
“The meeting was held in a completely democratic environment. It seems that the issues which had become complex are now moving towards a positive resolution,”
said Anirban.
“The Principal Secretary has suggested a way forward. The Federation will now discuss that,” said Biswas. He was accompanied by directors Arindam Sil, Rahool Mukherjee, and Srijit Roy.
During the meeting, the directors once again raised the demand for a committee, something the CM had suggested. Both sides have now been asked to submit their respective resolutions by August 7.
“We were always in favour of a face-to-face meeting and finally it happened.
This is definitely a positive step,” said ‘Prem Amar 2’ director Bidula Bhattacharya. A report of the meeting will be submitted in the next court hearing on August 11.
