The rumours about Telugu actors being banned to work in Tamil films raised a furore in the Telugu film industry since many Telugu actors and actresses are making waves in Kollywood.
“These rumours are baseless and unfounded,” says Swaminathan, general secretary of the Film Employees Federation of South India (FEFSI), based out in Chennai. “We can’t ban actors from working in Tamil films since our organization has no such powers,” he adds.
He claims that they represent and safeguard the interests of thousands of cine workers belonging to 24 crafts who work in Tamil movies.
“We had some issues with Light N Light company based in Mumbai over sharing daily wage workers while working in Tamil films,” he says and adds, “With most of Tamil films using equipment and lights from this company which also has a branch in Hyderabad, we demanded sharing workers in 40-50% ratio but they were reluctant. In fact, we gave them one year time to use their crew to handle equipment safely. With one year period lapsing and to protect the livelihood of 2000-odd lightmen, we announced non-cooperation with them,” he informs.
He also says that they have not imposed any restrictions on even chief technicians from other states working in the Tamil film industry.
“Our dancers and fighters are working in Telugu films under 50% terms and they can also come here on similar terms. This time, it was only about daily wage workers and nothing more,” he concludes.
