Srijit Mukherji, Arindam Sil, Anik Dutta, others back Rahool Mukherjee after director banned from making films

Rahool, who shot to fame directing Dev starrer Kishmish in 2022, was announced as the director of an untitled project starring Prosenjit Chatterjee, Anirban Bhattacharya, Priyanka Sarkar by SVF recently.

FCTWEI president Swarup Biswas has reportedly claimed Rahool Mukherjee 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 director Soumik Haldar, who directed Abar Bibaho Obhijaan last year. Rahool was incorporated into the film as a creative producer by SVF.

The ban on Rahool has sparked a massive row in the Bengali film industry with several prominent directors as well as actors lashing out at the federation's move.

Reactions

Srijit Mukherji posted on X, "Banning someone cannot be a solution, neither can clamping down on someone's right to work. In solidarity with @RahoolMukherjee."

Arindam Sil raised a few questions on the ban and said on Facebook, "... How can a film be stopped when Honourable Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has assured us of no hindrance to work?..."

"Shouldn't the matter be dealt with a more humane approach?"

In a dig at the federation, Anik Dutta wrote, "After film ban, now we are witnessing how a filmmaker can be banned in this state."

Anjan Dutt wrote, "Stopping a filmmaker from working is wrong, unethical, illegal."

Kamaleswar Mukherjee said, "I express my disagreement with the Film Federation's decision and request that Rahool be given unconditional permission to continue his work."

Actor Riddhi Sen slammed the ban saying, ".. Is it a Talibani rule or the boycott gang of IT cells which have allegiance to the political parties?"