A day after the Directors Guild allowed filmmaker Rahul Mukherjee to work as creative producer in an upcoming film, no technician turned up at a studio in the city on the first day of shooting of a film produced by a major production house.

The development comes at a time when the Federation of Cine Technicians and Workers of Eastern India (FCTWEI) had on Friday clarified that Mukherjee is free to work as the creative producer of the film but cannot work as the director for three months.

Federation president Swarup Biswas had earlier said that Mukherjee was being banned from film direction for three months for violating rules by going to Bangladesh to shoot patch shots of another film without informing the federation and without taking help of technicians in Dhaka.

Biswas said, “Neither the federation nor the Directors Guild were informed about Mukherjee going to Bangladesh to shoot the film, which is against the rules. But there is nothing personal against Rahul. He is our good friend. The decision was taken in the interest of the industry and its stakeholders, of which technicians are an important part.” PTI First.

The untitled film, starring Prosenjit Chatterjee, Anirban Bhattacharya and Priyanka Sarkar in the lead, was scheduled to begin shooting from July 27. The shoot in Dhaka, which caused Mukherjee trouble, was related to another project financed by another producer.

SVF, the production house behind the project, had said that Soumik Haldar will now direct the film while Mukherjee will be the creative producer.

However, Mukherjee and Haldar were present at the technician studio in Tollygunge, so no technician turned up. Bengali film superstar Prosenjit Chatterjee, who was working in the film, also rushed there and waited in vain.

Director and TMC MLA Raj Chakraborty, filmmaker Kaushik Ganguly and actor Parambrata Chatterjee were among those present at the studio to express solidarity with Mukherjee.

“This is an insult to every director. We are giving the federation two days. If no technician comes for shooting on Sunday, I personally feel we (directors) will also stop shooting from Monday. I am suggesting this to other filmmakers too,” Chakraborty, a key member of the ruling party’s cultural cell, said.

Ganguly said, “The federation cannot decide how many technicians should be hired for shooting. We cannot tolerate any insult to any director.”

Chatterjee said cancelling a day’s shooting without any valid reason would cause huge losses to the producer and it was unfortunate.

He said, “There can be complaints, there can be issues. But these can be resolved through dialogue without disrupting the shooting.” He hoped that this will lead to better understanding.

Directors Guild spokesperson Sudeshna Roy said Mukherjee had clarified that she was in Bangladesh only for four days to take some patch shots of a project and regretted any misunderstanding.

“After all these developments, sacking technicians without any notice is humiliating for a director who gets one or two projects in a year after years of planning. The production house that comes forward to support the project also suffers huge losses and thinks twice before going ahead with any project,” Roy said.

Mukherjee said, “I just want to do the film that I have been planning for months. Once all the disputes are resolved, we can start work.”

Biswas said he would speak on the issue at an appropriate time.