Ram Gopal Varma clears ₹1.11 crore dues after FWICE halted Police Company shoot for hours over 9-year-old payments
Here's the latest box office buzz making the rounds:
The shoot of Ram Gopal Varma ’s soon-to-release crime thriller Police Company, starring Harshvardhan Rane in the lead role, was disrupted on August 17 after Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) members stopped work over long-pending payments allegedly owed to technicians and daily-wage workers. The shoot, which was taking place at a set in Versova, remained stalled for nearly five hours as the federation pushed for the dues to be cleared.
Adding to this, According to Times of India report, the dispute as per reports relates to payments pending for almost nine years and covers three of Ram's earlier projects, including Sarkar 3 (2017) and Officer (2018). Following FWICE’s intervention, ₹ 1.11 crore rupees was transferred to the federation, allowing the production to resume.
Meanwhile, According to FWICE President BN Tiwari, Ram had previously accepted that payments were pending and had given the federation a written assurance in 2019 that the dues would be settled. However, despite repeated follow-ups, the matter remained unresolved.
Notably, “Varma, who owed money to technicians and daily-wage workers for three projects, including Sarkar 3 (2017) and Officer (2018), had written a letter to us in 2019, assuring us that the dues would be cleared at the earliest and requesting that he be allowed to continue working. We kept following up with him, but he continued to avoid the issue. We contacted him again when we learnt that he was preparing to shoot his next project, but for almost a month, we were told that the payment would be made shortly and were asked not to take action,” he told the publication.
As per the latest buzz, The federation eventually decided to intervene directly on the first day of the new movie’s shoot. FWICE Honorary General Secretary Ashok Dubey shared members from several departments were asked to stop work until the outstanding amount was addressed. He added, “On Monday, we had no choice but to stall the shoot. We asked the cameraman, fighters and members of the lighting department not to work until the payment was made. The outstanding amount involved several departments, including fighters, spot boys and the sound department. After almost nine years, the workers finally received the money that was due to them.”
In further updates, The intervention affected multiple departments working on the production, with the shoot resuming only after the payment was made to FWICE.
On top of that, Ashoke Pandit, acting as the FWICE Chief Advisor and IFTDA President, shared during the intervention that the federation's primary goal is to prevent payment delays for movie technicians and daily-wage workers. He emphasised that producers must acknowledge the personal and financial responsibilities of the crew members who help complete their films.
Although the federation prefers to avoid halting productions, recognising that such disruptions also negatively impact producers, he affirmed that they will continue to pursue necessary measures whenever worker dues are withheld.
Source: Hindustan Times