KOLKATA, April 16 -- Despite the Calcutta High Court barring Federation of Cine Technicians and Workers of Eastern India (FCTWEI) from infringing Tollywood directors' right to profession, on Wednesday, a popular Bengali filmmaker Sudeshna Roy faced 'non-cooperation' from technicians on the floors of her new Bengali film 'Swapno Holeo Sotyi'.

Roy went live on social media from a house in north Kolkata, where the shoot for her new film was supposed to take place. She disclosed that, despite a month of preparation involving the film's look, set and pre-production work, her production manager abruptly quit just six days before shooting was set to begin. The art director also stepped away from the project without providing any explanation.

Roy said everyone involved in the production, who were members of their respective guilds, suddenly withdrew from the project right before the shoot. She sent a list of crew members to the Federation, but none agreed to work on her film, all declining without offering any reason.

When the set work was supposed to start on Wednesday, all the technicians 'boycotted' the set and only the directors were present. The film will go on floors on April 18. "The court has clearly said that our work must not be disrupted. Yet, without any valid reason, no one turned up. Why this boycott? I don't understand. Everyone was present during the look set sessions. No one is following the court's orders. I've written to the guilds, to the Federation, and explained everything. Still, one after another, everyone backed out. I am suffering and so are my producers," said Roy. Meanwhile, Swarup Biswas, president, FCTWEI, was unavailable for comment.

On April 3, the Calcutta High Court permitted Tollywood director Bidula Bhattacharya to make a representation to the state regarding her work getting obstructed by the Federation while observing that non-production of the unique card, insisted upon the by the federation, will not affect any of the rights of the petitioner directors to perform their duties and functions.

Roy's situation is not an isolated incident. In the past, directors like Kaushik Ganguly, Joydeep Mukherjee, Srijit Ray and Rahool Mukherjee have also faced hurdles allegedly by

the Federation.

The turmoil between the Directors' Association of Eastern India (DAEI) and the Federation has persisted since July 2024. DAEI chairperson Roy was also present at the High Court hearing on April 3.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.