No sooner that SA Chandrasekhar replaced Rama Narayanan as President of the Tamil Film Producers Council following the latter’s resignation on Friday night than he finds himself in the eye of the storm. FEFSI (Film Employees Federation of South India) announced that in accordance with their rule that workers wages and other related terms should be revised every three years, employees of the movie industry could expect higher wages.
The Producers Council responded by saying that they would ratify this in due course and pass a resolution pending discussions. FEFSI has taken umbrage at this and have decided to enforce their terms saying that they will not work for less.
The issue came to a head when FEFSI members confiscated the canned film of Jaguar Thangam’s India with his son Vijaya Chiranjeevi in the lead when he refused to comply with their terms and hike the fee. Following this the Producers Council have announced that all shooting must be suspended for the day or till the problems are sorted out.
Work had been going on furiously towards erecting a set for Vikram’s Raja Pattai with Suseendran but following the announcement it has come to a grinding halt. It is to be hoped that FEFSI and the Producers Council settle their dispute amicably.
