Technician Studio is not just a studio per se. It is an institution with a history of its own. It is a complex that has indisputable archival value. It is soaked in memories of the best that has happened in Bengali cinema since the studio was set up. It is a visual icon in the Kolkata International Film Festival audiovisual logo. It was founded in 1952 by four technicians - Ramananda Sengupta, Satyen Chattopadhyay, Ashutosh Nag and Mrinal Guha Thakurta. The State Government took it over in 1979. During its golden phase, the studio has seen Tapan Sinha, Mrinal Sen, Tarun Majumdar and Satyajit Ray directing Pather Panchali, Aparajito and Apur Sansar respectively. Legendary actors Pramathesh Barua, Kanan Devi, Chhabi Biswas and Uttam Kumar shot for their films at Technician Studio.

Irrespective of their political and ideological convictions and attachments, when they learnt of this decision, the leading stars of Bengali cinema, spanning three generations of Bengali cinema raised their collective voice against the agitation. Among them were Soumitra Chatterjee, Prosenjit, Jeet, Ranjit Mullick, Tapas Pal, Abhishek Chatterjee, Biplab Chatterjee and nonegarian Haradhan Bandopadhyay. They represented the two major bodies of the industry, namely, the Artistes Forum and the Tollygunge Technicians Guild.

The trouble began when on July 29, following its decision to withdraw from film production and processing, the state government handed over the Technicians Studio, ‘a sick state public sector undertaking’ to Zee Telefilms. The state cabinet had cleared a proposal sent to it by the Department of Information and Culture, headed by Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. The studio has over 200 cottas of land. While Technicians I is located on 145 cottas of land, Technicians II, adjacent to it, has 43 cottas at Tollygunge. The studio also has a vacant plot measuring 35 cottas of land on Prince Anwar Shah Road. For all this property, Zee Telefilms has reportedly agreed to pay Rs 31.30 crore to the state government.

In 2006, when the government floated a tender for privatising the “sick” PSU, Zee Telefilms was the only firm that had submitted its bid. company had submitted the bid, the government decided to sell out to Zee Telefilms. This decision to privatise the studio was strongly opposed by eminent actors and technicians headed by Soumitra Chatterjee and Prosenjit. But nothing seems to have happened. On July 29, the 33 employees of Technician Studio became employees of Zee Telefilms. There is uncertainty and anxiety about how the new owners will use this heritage studio and what will be the locus standii of the present employees. “The studio, which was in a shabby condition, required upgradation, and we are happy that finally it has gone into the hands of right people,” Abhijit Sanyal, Director of Films, had said at the time of the handover. One fails to understand why privatisation is called for upgradation when many in the industry openly state that Technician Studio is brimming over with demand for its shooting floors and the garden complex outside the studios for round-the-clock shifts from television and film people. How can the Director of Films guarantee that it has gone into “right hands”? A top-ranking officer of the State Government who wishes to remain anonymous said, “The studio was running on a no-profit-no-loss basis because the overhead costs were much higher than the incoming returns. The employees are highly paid as government employees. I personally think that since the state government wanted to run the studio as a profit-making concern. It could not generate funds for the renovation of the studio and thus, must have felt that privatization was the only solution.”

After days of discontent, demonstration and defiance, members of the Artistes Forum, led by Soumitra Chatterjee, Prosenjit and Jeet, met the cultural secretary of the State Government to discuss the impending privatization of and revamp Technician Studio. “We wanted to know the details of the makeover plan; whether the studio would be dismantled right away or whether it would be done in a phased manner. We also wanted to know whether any alternative arrangements would be made for the films and serials currently on the floors of the studio,” explained filmmaker Gautam Ghose. How Zee Telefilms will handle this heritage site, only the future can tell.