FWICE hits back at Ram Gopal Varma’s remarks on Ranveer Singh row, cites unpaid dues

After the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) issued a non-cooperation directive against Ranveer Singh following a complaint over his exit from Don 3 weeks before the film was scheduled to go on floors, the Federation faced criticism from several members of the film industry.

Among them was filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma, who, five days ago, posted a lengthy tweet on X criticising FWICE and questioning its authority. A part of his tweet read: “BAN “FWICE” and not @RanveerOfficial. The so called “BAN” or non-cooperation in the style of Gandhiji, will eventually become a BIG FAT JOKE on FWICE. This isn’t industry or worker protection, like they are claiming. It is just a pure performative muscle flexing, by an extremely outdated union system, desperately trying to hold on to their grip. Whether it claims to speak for over five lakh or 50 lakh workers, the brutal truth is that most of those lakhs don’t even know the internal facts of the two parties dispute. FWICE is neither a court of legal justice nor a government authorised regulatory body, and at best it’s a kangaroo court, which by definition pretends to deliver justice, but in actual fact it disregards established legal rules, due process and impartiality. That is because the verdict is often decided in advance by a group of a specific agenda oriented people meeting privately including actors who are scared shitless with the mega success of @RanveerOfficial in Dhurandhar.”

Responding to Varma’s tweet criticising the Federation and questioning its authority, Ashoke Pandit, President of Indian Film and Television Directors’ Association (IFTDA) and Chief Advisor of FWICE, reminded the filmmaker of what he described as long-pending dues owed to FWICE members and took strong exception to the language used against the organisation. He says, “After our last press conference, many people commented on the Federation, and one of them was Ram Gopal Varma, whom we respect a lot. He posted a long tweet criticising the Federation, questioning our authority and using abusive language against us. Of course, we live in a democracy and everyone has the right to express their views. However, we would like to remind him that more than Rs 1.25 crore remains payable to our technicians and workers. We are not making allegations out of thin air, nor are we trying to settle scores. We are merely reminding him of a matter that has been pending since 2017. The issue pertains to his film Officer, starring Nagarjuna. We repeatedly reached out to him and tried to resolve the matter.”

Referring to the long-pending matter, he added, “In 2019, Ram Gopal Varma wrote to the Federation acknowledging the outstanding payments due to Federation members and other vendors. He sought time until March 4, 2019, to clear all dues and stated that, failing this, FWICE could take any action it deemed appropriate. It is now 2026, and those payments have still not been made.”

He concluded, “We take strong objection to the language used against the Federation. Instead of abusing the organisation, he should be apologising to the Federation and settling these long-pending dues.”