Director Sanjay Gupta has reacted after FWICE announced it was boycotting him.

The Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) banned actor Ranveer Singh over his abrupt exit from Farhan Akhtar’s Don 3 on Monday (May 25). Farhan had approached the workers’ body after the actor’s abrupt exit from his film. Now filmmaker Sanjay Gupta has questioned the logic behind taking such a decision. (Also read: ₹45 crore loss, no response to notices: Film workers’ body chief explains why they banned Ranveer Singh over Don 3 feud)

What Sanjay Gupta said
Taking to X, the director said, “When an A List Hero shoots there are more than 300 workers working on sets. Ban him and you are not stopping him but depriving the workers of their livelihood. What sense does it even make???”

About the ban on Ranveer
The FWICE has issued a non-cooperation directive against Ranveer after Farhan approached them regarding the Don 3 dispute in April. Ranveer was issued multiple notices by the body to which the actor replied that the body was not the ‘appropriate forum’ to address their contractual issues.

FWICE President Ashoke Pandit held a press conference to explain the rationale behind the move. He said that FWICE acted after Farhan filed a complaint alleging Ranveer walked out of the film days before the shoot was to begin, and that Ranveer ignored their notices.

“As soon as the complaint reached us, we formally registered it. Subsequently, we issued three notices to Ranveer Singh: one every 10 days, inviting him to engage with us, and three reminders. However, we received absolutely no response. Since we received no response, we collectively decided to convene a press conference to apprise the industry of the decision our Federation has taken. The moment we announced the press conference, we received an email from Mr Singh stating that this matter did not fall within our jurisdiction and that we had no authority to interfere in it. We took note of his stance and decided to proceed accordingly,” Ashoke Pandit said.