Mamata Banerjee's intervention likely to end Tollywood imbroglio; Prosenjit, Dev, Goutam Ghose meet CM

Tollywood superstars Prosenjit Chatterjee, Dev, senior filmmaker Goutam Ghose met Banerjee at her office Nabanna on Tuesday afternoon.

West Bengal minister Aroop Biswas was also present in the meeting.

After the meeting, Dev posted on X, "Thanku didi @MamataOfficial. Hopefully everything will be resolved by evening N will resume shooting from tomorrow Thanks to all the Technicians , producers, directors n all the stakeholders. [sic.]"

Quoting the post, Prosenjit wrote on X, "Thank you didi @MamataOfficial. We all wished to resume shooting from tomorrow with your help. Thanks to all the Technicians, Producers, Directors and all the stakeholders."

The meeting with the Chief Minister occurred after the directors on Monday late evening said they will continue with their indefinite strike in all mediums, further uniting against the federation over its denial to allow Rahool Mukherjee as the director of an upcoming Prosenjit Chatterjee starrer film under the banner of  SVF.

The directors have also demanded a third party as a mediator to resolve the issue.

The directors have also raised issues related to the stringent rules imposed on the directors by the federation.

Image by Avishek Mitra/IBNS

"Time has come to discuss the existing rules and how far they are legally sound. This entire discussion is now triggered by the incident of Rahool Mukherjee," said Kaushik Ganguly.

The halting of work is set to threaten the timely release of various Bengali films and web series, which are scheduled to be released in the next few months.

The airing of daily soaps is also set to be affected. 

Genesis of the shutdown

Rahool Mukherjee was announced as the director of an untitled project starring Prosenjit Chatterjee, Anirban Bhattacharya, Priyanka Sarkar by SVF recently.

Federation of Cine Technicians and Workers of Eastern India (FCTWEI) president Swarup Biswas has reportedly claimed Rahool violated the rule by not informing the federation or the Directors' Association of Eastern India about his foreign visit for shooting.

After the ban, SVF replaced Rahool with filmmaker Soumik Haldar, who directed Abar Bibaho Obhijaan last year. Rahool was incorporated into the film as a creative producer by SVF.

Photo courtesy: IBNS

Even after the Directors Association of Eastern India (DAEI) on Friday lifted a three-month break of service which was imposed on Rahool, technicians, as the makers of the upcoming film claimed, refused to take the floor for the shooting of the film.

The situation escalated after several directors, producers and actors from the industry reached the Technicians Studios in Tollygunge, Kolkata, on Saturday morning in a show of support for Rahool, who shot to fame directing Dev starrer Kishmish.

In a press briefing in the evening following its internal meeting, the federation said it has no objection to shooting the film with Soumik Haldar as the director but not Rahool Mukherjee.

Swarup Biswas, who also happens to be the brother of TMC heavyweight Aroop Biswas, cleared that technicians have no problem with working on the project, which is yet untitled, with Soumik Haldar as the director.

Image by Avishek Mitra/IBNS

When asked about how the break of service on Rahool which was lifted was overturned, Biswas said last Saturday, "The decision to overturn can't be done in a moment as it's an organisation which has its rules.

"The decision to impose a break of service was taken through AGM. So the decision to overturn it will also have to be made through a meeting."