Federation faceoff - Western India film fed points finger at east counterpart

KOLKATA: Even as Kolkata producers and directors were crying about the strong arm tactics of Federation of Cine Technicians and Workers of Eastern India (FCTWE), there comes a new twist in the string of protests. For the first time, Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) have raised their voice against the arm-twisting of FCTWE. Dilip Pithva, general secretary of FWICE, has gone on record to state that every time a film unit comes to shoot from Mumbai to Kolkata, he apprehends some problems from FCTWE.In a meeting All India Film Employees Confederation (AIFEC) of which both these cine federations are members, Pithva plans to raise these issues. The meeting, incidentally, is scheduled to happen in Kolkata.
Shooting of a Bengali film — ‘Aashiqui’ — was recently stalled in London recently because the requisite number of technicians weren’t taken by producer Ashok Dhanuka. Finally an agreement was reached where the production house would be required to take one extra technician and an art setting person from FCTWE during their next shooting abroad.
Pithva insists that despite Bollywood shooting abroad regularly, FWICE has never done such a thing. “Abroad, an Indian producer shoots on a skeletal budget. It’s the producer’s discretion on who and how many technicians he wants to employ,” Pithva says.
Unni Krishnan, the general secretary of Film Employees Federation of Kerala, says, “In Kerala, we don’t lay down any numbers. The director and producer decides on that depending on the production designed.” In addition, Krishnan, who is also the national secretary of All India Film Employees Confederation (AIFEC), says, “There is no mandate on the number of technicians that have to be taken by a producer/director when he shoots abroad. There is no national rule on that.”
Pithva states while shooting in Mumbai, FWICE only insists that a producer works with members of their Federation and not ‘fly by night’ technicians. “But stalling shoots for not meeting ‘mandatory numbers’ is unheard of here. For a small budget film, we are flexible. If someone decides to take only eight people for a shoot, it means employment generation for eight technicians. Why stop that?” Pithva asks.
In February this year, Pithva had received complaints from producers who had come to shoot in Kolkata. He had to call up the Federation in Kolkata to resolve the issues. “The norms state that if an outside producer is shooting somewhere, he can use 30% of his own people. The rest has to be hired locally. Stalling shoots, insisting on hiring mandatory number of technicians are only giving a bad name to cine federations,” Pithva says.
To explain further, he says, “When a Bombay unit goes to Kolkata, how can a local sound recordist do justice to the work? The AIFEC rule says a producer has to take 70 per cent of unskilled labour locally when he is shooting anywhere in India. That includes lightman, spotboy and setting boy. Producers and directors have all the liberty to take skilled people and work with their own team.”
Pithva is shocked to hear that FCTWE has recently issued a letter asking all members to submit a photocopy of passports or face punishment. “We have never done this!” he insists.
Meanwhile, actor-director Arindam Sil is livid. “Being a founder members of Artist Forum, I can say that never in my life have I seen the Federation send such an outrageous letter. What’s this talk about punishment? It’s demeaning. I’ll try to talk to the chief minister on this issue on Friday,” he says.
Aparna Ghatak, secretary, FCTWEI, says the intentions of sending the letter was misread. She claims, “It was sent to all the 26 guilds in order to create a database for understanding which countries our members have shot in. We used the word ‘punishment’ because many technicians would otherwise dilly-dally and submit the data on time.” As an afterthought, she adds, “The state government, especially our minister Arup Biswas, extends all help to us. It is therefore also our responsibility to ensure national rules and regulations. Insisting on a certain number of technicians is for the industry’s betterment and to enforce better discipline among technicians and producers.”