FTII, film world mourn acting guru Taneja’s death

Pune: Veteran acting coach Roshan Taneja (87) was almost an institution within the Film and Television Institute of India (

FTII

), where he had founded its famed acting course.

Taneja, who was suffering from pancreatic cancer, passed away on Friday night. The news of his death elicited reactions of grief from some of the most acclaimed actors in Indian cinema, many of whom were his students, including Shabana Azmi, Anil Kapoor and Rakesh Bedi.

FTII director Bhupendra Kainthola praised Taneja’s contribution in honing “so many award-winning actors” during his time at the institute, including Azmi, Jaya Bachchan, Om Puri, Shatrughan Sinha, Naseeruddin Shah, Mithun Chakraborty, Asrani, Zarina Wahab amd Rita Bhaduri.

He said that FTII would organise a condolence meet on Monday afternoon, with many of his former (FTII) students expected to turn up. “We have sent out the invites to all active alumni who were students of Mr Taneja, and we expect a high turnout at the institute on Monday,” Kainthola added.

Across all tributes, Taneja’s status as a “guru” to his students — not just of teacher — rang across, with Azmi referring to Taneja as the “only person whose feet I touched” in her tribute on the social media.

To the ones who knew Taneja closely, from their time at the institute to his days of illness, his death weighed heavy. “Mr Taneja was not only my teacher, but was also a family friend. His wife and sons were kind enough to accept me into their family. I have known him since 1972- that makes it 47 years that I have known Mr Taneja. It was a close relationship we had,” actor Benjamin Gilani said.

“As a teacher or as a human being, he was excellent and a true guru to us all. He was a gentle and compassionate person, and was always encouraging to everyone, even to the ones who weren’t doing terribly well. And even when he pointed out mistakes, he didn’t use a hammer blow to do that. I knew that he had been ill for quite some time, but this is a heavy burden to bear,” said Gilani, who is now a mentor to the acting department students at his alma mater.