With the deadlock over the dispute between stuntmen from the South and Mumbai, Salman Khan has lost around 12 days of shooting for his film Mental and has reportedly incurred a loss of 250 million. Producer-director Sohail Khan has hired a leading South Indian fight master for the film. As per the All India Film Employees Confederation (AIFEC), 70% of the fighters have to be local (in this case, from the Hindi film industry) and 30% from the region of the fight master. But fighters from the South refused to shoot, demanding 50% of their men be hired for the action scenes. A source said, “The unit had to return within a week even though it was a 15-day schedule in Kolhapur because the fighters refused to shoot. There was another schedule in Lavasa, which was a continuity sequence from a Dubai shoot, that needed the same fighters. There too, the Film Employees’ Federation of South India (FEFSI) refused to send their stuntmen.” Dharmesh Tiwari, President of AIFEC, said, “The FEFSI is not ready to follow the rule passed in March 2013, and they are forcing the producer to take 50% of their fighters.” It is learnt that producers and AIFEC are now contemplating on boycotting south Indian fighters. Aejaz Gulab, General Secretary, Mumbai Stuntmen Association, said, “If they continue like this, and not follow the AIFEC regulation, there are chances producers may stop working with them.” Meanwhile, some Hindi film producers have already replaced their south Indian action directors with local ones.
