Tollywood divided after tech fed demand of 5 lakh security deposit from producers
Times of India | 27 September 2024
Kolkata: The proposal of the Federation of Cine Technicians of Eastern India (FCTWEI), asking producers to pay Rs 5 lakh as security deposit to Eastern India Motion Pictures Association (EIMPA) before starting work, has triggered strong reactions from the industry. While many independent directors said they will now opt to shoot their films outside the state, there is a strong counter-logic, stating that such a step might be necessary to stop the practice of non-payment of dues.
At EIMPA’s annual general meeting on Wednesday, FCTWEI president Swarup Biswas said that producers owe approximately Rs 50 lakh to technicians.“There are many producers whose payments are due for over two years. Sometimes, they can’t even be traced. In order to avoid such situations, we propose each producer to pay Rs 5 lakh as security deposit to EIMPA. If a producer doesn’t pay up, EIMPA can then check all the bills, audit them and ensure that the technicians get their dues,” Biswas added.
Piya Sengupta, the president of EIMPA, told TOI: “There has been an instance of an outstation producer who had an outstanding of Rs 30 lakh. After haggling, Rs 10 lakh still remains due. What is strange is that this producer got another person as a front to produce a new film. If we gave an NOC to this person who is acting as a front now, it meant putting technicians and artists at risk. Such instances are not rare in the industry. In the case of artists, sometimes payments are being made but the GST is not given. It then becomes the artist’s liability to pay the GST.”
A film was supposed to be shot in Purulia between Aug 18 and Sept 12. “Technicians had to wait for seven days in Purulia to get their payment. FCTWEI fought for the technicians’ dues. Finally, the payment was made on Sept 19. But the TDS is still due,” said a member of FCTWEI.
Director Indrasis Acharya told TOI that non-payment of dues was a harsh reality in Tollywood. “But a system of security deposits for independent cinema will put films on the backburner. Rather, there should be strict contracts in place between technicians and line producers. The directors should also have the IP rights of the film,” Acharya said.
The proposal of implementing a system of security deposit came from FCTWEI to help salvage such situations. “But EIMPA has a legal team that will say if our association can even take this such a security deposit. We also have to talk to our members to understand if they want such a step to be taken,” Sengupta said.