PremiumRahool Mukherjee out of directing the Prosenjit Chatterjee-Anirban Bhattacharya project
Rahool Mukherjee was forced to step down from the director's chair.
Last Updated: 02.14 PM, Jul 21, 2024
On Wednesday this week, production house SVF hosted a gala Mahurat of their upcoming film with Prosenjit Chatterjee and Anirban Bhattacharya. The film is supposed to be a retake of the Tamil film Garudan. Rahool Mukherjee was supposed to direct the film. However, in a new turn of events, Rahool was forced to step down from the director's chair. While some replacement names, including that of DOP Soumik Halder, are doing rounds, there has not been any official communication from SVF.
Why was Rahool Mukherjee forced to step down?
On July 20, the Federation of Cine Technicians & Workers of Eastern issued a notice of suspension of work for Rahool for three months for unlawful shooting. It all started last year when Bangladeshi OTT platform Chorki initiated projects in West Bengal. The platform undertook a number of web shows – one of which, Lahu, was supposed to be directed by Rahool. The series features Sohini Sarkar, Rajnandini Paul, Arifin Shuvoo and others. Federation and Chorki disagreed with payment regulations. According to the Federation’s regulation, the payment structure for any foreign production is higher than the local production. While there has not been any official statement from the OTT platform, Chorki started working under a local payment structure. The shooting was stalled after four days. Later, Rahool and his team went to Bangladesh and completed shooting.
This irked the Federation. Its officials took it up to the Directors’ Guild – one of the subsections of the Federation – and after meetings, the suspension of work order was issued. Director Sudeshna Roy, general secretary of the guild and vice president of the federation, told OTTplay, “We tried our best to let Rahool off the hook. However, the rest of the Federation heads did not allow it. Out of 24 heads, 23 argued that the regulation and law should be the same for everyone. Our hands were tied.” Earlier, several other members, including the makeup artist, art director, assistant directors, and others, were also suspended under the same rule.
According to sources, Rahool initially denied the charges and later, on July 9, submitted a letter accepting the charges of shooting in Bangladesh and apologising for it. OTTplay tried to reach out to the director but he was unavailable. According to one of the Directors’ Guild members, “In case of travelling abroad to shoot, the federation rule is to take the entire unit. Here, when Rahool went to shoot, they did not travel with the complete unit that started the project. There are violations.”
Future of Rahool Mukherjee’s project with Prosenjit Chatterjee and Anirban Bhattacharya
The shooting of Rahool’s project with Prosenjit and Anirban was scheduled to start soon. Now, with Rahool’s exit, the project sees uncertainties. According to some unverified sources, SVF might go on with the project with DOP Soumik taking charge of direction. That has not been confirmed. In fact, according to sources, multiple requests from influential members of the fraternity, including Shrikant Mohta and Prosenjit Chatterjee, to the Federation fell on deaf ears. According to the SVF spokesperson, there are two options: First, Rahool will continue to direct if the project is postponed for three months. Second, the producers might come up with a new director. We will have to wait for the updates.