Federation, indie film-makers clash over censorship, technicians’ dues
Times of India | 16 November 2025
Kolkata: The recent controversy involving the censorship of an SRFTI student's feature film, which was barred from release due to objections from the Eastern India Motion Pictures' Association (EIMPA) and the Federation of Cine Technicians and Workers of Eastern India (FCTWEI), has started a debate among independent film-makers.
This incident is seen by many as a potential turning point for the industry, especially with the increasing influence of AI, the use of high-end mobile cameras for filming and the emergence of new online platforms for film distribution.
FCTWEI president Swarup Biswas clarified the organisation supported indie cinema as long as it was not used as a pretext to withhold payments due to technicians. "A director is free to make a film without engaging guild members and release it.
Our concern is with producers who default on their payments for over a year, subsequently employ an indie director as a pretext to bypass guild technicians and ultimately hope to release the film.
Pramod Films, producer of ‘The Academy of Fine Arts', failed to settle dues of Rs 12 lakh owed to technicians, despite assurances to do so. Prateek Chakravorty of Pramod Films tried to cheat our technicians in the garb of indie cinema for a film meant for commercial release," he said.
According to Biswas, Chakravorty spent lakhs on promotion but didn't pay technicians' dues. "We can make some considerations if this producer's name is removed from the film's credit and censor certificate. He engaged our technicians in some instances and did not in others. We want to meet him, address the dues and clarify his criteria for employing our technicians," he said.
Calls to Chakravorty from TOI went unanswered.
"‘Binodini', produced by Pramod Films, along with Dev Entertainment Ventures, released without a glitch. ‘Lakkhikantopur Local', presented by Angel Creations and Pramod Films, is slated for release next Friday. How come the issue of dues of Pramod Films has not surfaced for these two films? After our meeting with Biswas on Friday, we failed to understand why an indie film can't release commercially," said ‘The Academy of Fine Arts' director Jayabrata Das, who started the film in 2021.
"Don't we have the right to earn a living?"
Biswas said that before the release of ‘Binodini', half the amount was paid with a promise of payment of the rest later. "We will send an objection to ‘Lakkhikantopur Local' if the dues are not cleared," said the FCTWEI president.
SRFTI DTBU vice-chancellor and head of the cinematography department Samiran Datta said, "Whatever is happening is not correct. Implementing overly strict rules may halt experimental work and at the same time, eliminating all rules may disadvantage many technicians.
We must acknowledge that with AI and online film releases, the volume of work is decreasing. Demonstrating such resistance may deter investment in films produced in Kolkata.
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SRFTI teacher Pradipta Bhattacharya, whose ‘Nadhorer Bhela' was the sole Indian entry at the 31st KIFF, highlighted the challenges of releasing films in Bengal without industry connections. "Why should a director and his team become scapegoats in a dispute between the Federation and the producer? I've released two films, ‘Bakita Byaktigoto' and ‘Rajlokhhi O Srikanto'.
No guild members were used for ‘Bakita Byaktigoto' and ‘Nadhorer Bhela'.
I will release ‘Nadhorer Bhela' commercially and get people to pay to watch it on the big screen. Time has come to seek alternative distribution methods to bypass the current system."
SRFTI VC Das pointed out that ‘Jhilli' and ‘Dostojee' released commercially without being shot with guild members. "Why is the guild issue coming up in our case? At KIFF, an indie director of an international film, who worked with no crew, got the top award. A Cuban director takes home Rs 51 lakh from KIFF and a Bengali film-maker can't even release his film," he said.