Sanjay Leela Bhansali: After the death of a worker on Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Love And War’ set, FWICE wants a better place to work, a salary of Rs 50 lakhs: ‘Instead of 12 hours, 16-18 hours of work’ | Hindi Movie News

Death of a crew member on the sets of Sanjay Leela BhansaliThe upcoming film ‘Love & War’ has also brought attention to working conditions in entertainment. Chandradhari Singh Yadav, a carpenter who worked on the film, reportedly died after being electrocuted while at work.Following this, Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) President BN Tiwari confirmed that Bhansali extended financial assistance of Rs 40 lakh to the employee’s family. However, the commission has urged the production house to increase the compensation to Rs 50 lakh, considering that Yadav is the sole breadwinner of the family.Speaking to IANS, Tiwari said, “On the set of ‘Love & War’ directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, one of our artists died due to electric shock. After his death, SLB helped his family by donating INR 40 lacs. It is a lot of money, but we asked him, because the worker was 42 years old, he was the only one who was earning money. So, we asked the production to give him INR 50 lacs. There is no response from his side. Our objection is only to this, not to health and safety. Health and safety, instead of 12 hours of intensive work, 16-20 hours of work”.As of now, neither Sanjay Leela Bhansali nor his banner has publicly responded to FWICE’s request.Tiwari insisted that the story goes beyond one film. According to him, poor safety standards and long working hours have become common in movies, television and online video, which creates an urgent need.He added, “It’s not just about Sanjay Leela Bhansali. On many sets, where serials are being made, where series are being made, where other services are being used, there is a problem everywhere. So, this is totally unacceptable to the culture. And the community will act strongly on this. No matter who it is, our team will go to health and safety, and will go to find out how many hours they have been working. Our goal is not to stop shooting. Our main issue is that our workers, our craftsmen and artists, who are being made to work like slaves, should be stopped. We are craftsmen. We do entertainment for the film industry”.He added that the most important thing in the organization is to protect the workers through negotiation instead of enforcing the law. According to Tiwari, FWICE has never lodged an FIR against any producer and instead believes in resolving disputes through dialogue with the stakeholders.He continued: “The union has never filed a FIR against anyone. Our team is set up to protect our employees. They are established to fight for their freedom and protection. We are not set up to file an FIR against anyone”.The incident has also sparked controversy. Recently, the All Indian Cine Workers Association (AICWA) questioned the incident and called for an independent inquiry to determine the cause of the worker’s death.Responding to AICWA’s concerns, Mr. Tiwari insisted that the union was fully aware of the incident and said that the power call was caused by an exposed wire.He said, “No, we have all the information that the wires were open because of the current and the cause of death is unknown. He died on the spot. He was a member of an elite group. Our people worked with him. He was not working alone in the department where he worked. Many workers were with him.”He also said, “Some talented people were with him, the sound recording machine was with him. The cameramen were with him. If we say that it happened because of the present and the post-mortem report also says that he died because of the present, then it is not true.”