FWICE bans RGV for failing to pay Rs 1.25 Cr to workers

The Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) took the decision that their 32 unions will never work with Bollywood director Ram Gopal Varma in the future, as he was accused of not paying around Rs 1.25 crore to artistes, technicians and workers related to the film industry.

According to BN Tiwari, President, FWICE, general secretary Ashok Dubey and Gangeshwar Lal Srivastav, treasurer, the director had earlier received a legal notice. However, neither he responded to the notice nor did he clear the dues.

On September 17, 2020, Ram had received a letter from FWICE, which included details of the technicians and their pending payments and all of it needed to be cleared by him. Prior to this notice, the FWICE had written several letters to the director and asked him to clear the dues, but he refused to accept delivery of the letters.

The FWICE also recently found out that Ram was shooting in Goa for one of his projects amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We also sent a letter to the Chief Minister of Goa on September 10, 2020, regarding this. We wanted Ram Gopal Varma to clear the dues of poor technicians, artistes and workers but he never did. Hence, we have decided to not work with him in the future. We have also notified the Indian Motion Pictures Producers' Association (IMPPA) and Producers Guild of India (GUILD), among other unions about this," stated president BN Tiwari.