'Babumoshai Bandookbaaz' Bengal shoot stops, unit leaves

Kolkata: Bollywood filmmaker Kushan Nandy has scrapped the filming of Nawazuddin Siddiqui-starrer "Babumoshai Bandookbaaz" in West Bengal following problems with technicians from the state.

Nandy, who was shooting in Burdwan and Bolpur districts last week returned to Mumbai Wednesday in the aftermath of hurdles regarding hiring of local technicians.

"This is what actually happened to me. Extortion, blackmail and unit held hostage for 72 hours," Nandy tweeted Thursday.

According to reports, misunderstandings brewed up between the production team and the Federation of Cine Technicians and Workers of Eastern India over payment of dues and dealing with more number of technicians than what was actually needed.

The incident comes at a time when top filmmakers from Mumbai like Shoojit Sircar, Dibakar Banerjee, Sujoy Ghosh and Imtiaz Ali have chosen Bengal as one of the shooting spots for their forthcoming flicks.

Moreover, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been pitching Bengal as a good shooting destination for Bollywood and Hollywood projects.

Ghosh, whose "Kahaani" became synonymous with Kolkata, had recently appreciated the fact that more and more Hindi films are being shot in the state.

"just met nawaz and kushan shooting in burdwan. so good to see so many hindi films being shot in west Bengala (sic)," Ghosh tweeted last week.

Earlier, Bikash Ranjan Mishra ("Chauranga") and Mrityunjay Devvrat ("Children of War") withdrew their film units from the state.

Mishra has sympathised with Nandy over the incident via Twitter.