Artistes and technicians in Tollygunge halt work, demand safety measures during shoots
Telegraph | 6 April 2026
Artistes and technicians in Tollygunge will go on an indefinite cease-work starting Tuesday, demanding adequate safety guidelines for shootings.
The decision was taken at a meeting of senior actors and representatives of the powerful technicians’ federation late on Sunday.
The call to stop work comes in the wake of a renewed spotlight on the lack of safety protocols in shoots, which reportedly caused the death of Rahul Arunoday Banerjee while shooting for a serial at Talsari beach in Odisha last Sunday.
“Rahul has left us. But he has united all of us — actors, technicians, directors and others. We feel insecure. What happened was extremely unfortunate. Many questions remain unanswered. We have decided to go on a cease-work from Tuesday. The decision was not impulsive. We want a system that ensures everyone’s safety,” veteran actor Prosenjit Chatterjee said after the meeting.
Santilal Mukherjee, senior actor and general-secretary of the West Bengal Motion Pictures Artists’ Forum, told Metro: “We want a detailed SOP on safety that has to be adhered to during any shoot, be it films or TV serials or for streaming platforms. Unless that happens, we will not work. The actors and technicians are together in this”.
“The outdoor shoots that are already underway will be allowed to complete the remaining work, but no fresh outdoor shootings will be planned from now on,” he added.
Producers, including TV channels and OTT platforms, will soon be sent a set of safety-linked demands, he said.
Rahul is believed to have died trying to save a female co-actor who slipped and fell into a depression on an uneven Talsari beach in Odisha while they were shooting on Sunday afternoon.
The 42-year-old actor, writer and podcast host was rushed to the Digha State General Hospital, 11km from Talsari, where doctors declared him dead on arrival.
The production house has denied allegations of negligence, saying it had permission for the shoot.
“We had been trying to formulate a comprehensive safety guideline for a long time… Many depend on this industry. Without minimum safety guidelines, all of them are at risk. We have lost a talented actor like Rahul. In the past, technicians have died of electrocution. We need an SOP urgently,” Swarup Biswas, president of the technicians federation, said after the meeting.