Hitting back at the Film Employees Federation of South India (FEFSI) for urging the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce (SIFCC) to stop interfering in its affairs, the latter issued a statement, explaining its stand.

“The SIFCC started holding talks with the FEFSI only after producers in all the four south Indian languages (Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada) asked us to do so. This is not a new practice and it was SIFCC which held the wage revision talks in the year 2000,” a statement said.

Close on the heels of the SIFCC deciding to stop all new film ventures after talks between producers and FEFS) members over wage hike failed, the latter issued a statement on hitting out at the former.

In the statement, FEFSI secretary G Siva had said, “We don’t have any problem with film producers in Tamil Nadu. At the same time, we request the SIFCC to stop interfering in our issues. SIFCC’s decision is a result of a misunderstanding. We have never demanded 100% or 200% hike from the producers,” he said and added that the problems of employees might differ from one region to the other since the chamber has representatives from Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada film industries.