Telugu film industry downs shutters
Operations in Telugu film industry came to a grinding halt on Monday as an estimated 10,000 employees involved in the 24 crafts of the industry, declared a week-long bandh seeking better pay and working conditions.
The issue of higher wages and better conditions has been rocking their boat for years now, but the there has been no agreement between the Film Employees Federation of South India (FEFSI) and producers for the past six years, in the Telugu film industry.
The Telugu industry technically follows FEFSI more than the All India Confederation of Film Employees, a national body with all related unions broadly coming under its umbrella.
'We follow FEFSI and the fact that nothing pro-active has happened all these years is not a good sign,' regretted T. Prasanna Kumar, General Secretary, Telugu Film Producers' Council.
To give an idea of the wages, a lightman gets Rs. 525 for a day's work, a 12-hour call sheet which starts from his home with a pick-up and drop. Now they are demanding Rs. 850, while producers are willing to go upto Rs. 675. In the Kannada film industry lightmen are paid only Rs. 375.
Likewise, for dancers/stuntmen, the practice so far is to give them Rs. 2,550 for a 2-day call sheet, even if it means they work for a couple of hours on a song or a fight, after just an hour's rehearsal. Producers want the payment mode to be shifted to a 1-day call sheet and pay Rs. 1,275.
Among the big films whose schedules are likely to be hit are the Puri Jagan-directed NTR- Kajal Agarwal starrer 'Nenorakam', debutant director Sahadev's film starring Nandamuri Balakrishna andTrisha and director Kishore Kumar's 'Gopala Gopala' with the combination of Pawan Kalyan, Venkatesh and Sriya.
While Puri Jagan's film has just started, 80 per cent of Sahadev's film shoot is over and Kishore Kumar wants to wrap it up by November. All these three big budget films are racing against time, trying to finish shooting, complete post-production work and position themselves to hit the screens by Sankranthi.
News Posted: 20 October, 2014
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