After being accused of not paying enough money to his dancers, Ganesh Acharya recently held a press conference for the same to present his side of the story
Renowned choreographer Ganesh Acharya has denied accusation levelled against him by members of Cine Dancer's Association (CDA) that he did not pay dancers according to the standard rate fixed by the body.
Ganesh Acharya clarifies saying "I have heard the news in a news paper that I don't give money to dancers and there are allegations against me that I make under-payments to dancers. For that we have called out dancers from the film industry and media is free to ask them and me whether I do any kind of fraud when it comes to payment of salary"
A senior CDA member said that their last wage increment happened in June 2014 during the shooting of the Salman Khan starrer Kick which was Rs 3,500 and since then their wages haven't increased. The member also requested choreographers to increase the payment to Rs 4,500 but Acharya was the only exception who was not willing to pay according to the new standard rate.
Another CDA member added that he used to get paid Rs 2,000 to Rs 3000. So, through the media, they want to request him to rethink about his decision and cooperate with dancers who put in their heart and soul and work really hard. "The Film Federation has also supported us although Cine Dancers Association is affiliated with them," said the member
while the fight still continues, Acharya said he has not received any letter from Indian Film and Television Directors Association (IFTDA) regarding the issue. He also said if the federation people have decided to increase their payments, he is ready to pay according to the will of the producer of the film. He further added that choreographers like Remo D'Souza, Ceaser, Bosco, Vaibhavi Merchant, Farah Khan and Geeta Kapoor have signed on the resolution and they are ready to sort this out legally rather harassing them like this.
"Some dance coordinators threaten choreographers that they should only work with them but when I became general secretary (of the association), we had passed a tradition that we will not work with those dance coordinators, because it is our call with whom we want to work because it makes us comfortable"