Tolly shoot row: Directors to go off the floor from today
Times of India | 7 February 2025
12 Kolkata: From Friday, members of Directors Association of Eastern India (DAEI) are going off the shooting floor. This was decided at a meeting on Thursday evening. Sources said a letter has been sent to the producers of director Srijit Roy's serial and director Joydeep Mukherjee's series for a meeting that might have minister Aroop Biswas in attendance.
Shooting of at least 28 serials and 2 feature films are happening in Bengal. Subrata Sen, president of Directors Association of Eastern India (DAEI), said directors were also frustrated by the silence of Federation of Cine Technicians of Eastern India (FCTWEI). "We are feeling redundant and have hence decided to stay off the floor from Friday. While shooting can always continue, directors will not be present on the floor. We will not return to the set unless we receive assurance that the practice of arbitrarily blacklisting individuals and abruptly withdrawing technicians will cease. Only those directors who are currently shooting outdoors will continue with their work since it is difficult to wrap up everything so abruptly. All others have agreed to abstain from going to the sets," Sen said.
Some 20 members of the art setting department had been absent from Roy's set for four consecutive days. Roy's estimated production loss for studio rental during this period was over Rs 1 lakh. Another director, Mukherjee, known for his ‘Ganer Opare' and ‘Eken Babu' series, incurred losses of Rs 9 lakh due to no shooting of the second season of his series ‘Achintya Aich', starring Ritwick Chakraborty and Saswata Chatterjee, which couldn't commence on Jan 27. Mukherjee took to Facebook Live on Wednesday to share his "harassment".
Calls to FCTWEI president Swarup Biswas regarding the impasse went unanswered.
On Wednesday, FCTWEI members met representatives of the production house for Mukherjee's web series. The meeting was unproductive, as FCTWEI members insisted on speaking only with representatives authorized to handle payments in case of default. Upon learning that the representatives did not have such authority, FCTWEI members requested written confirmation of the primary investor's identity, who would be held responsible for any payment defaults.