Panel to present report on revised syllabi of film and television institute of India

PUNE: For the last one month, a specially-appointed apex committee has been working to provide a broader vision for the syllabi of various full-time courses on offer at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII).
"The committee members will provide a broader vision for the content of all courses as well as on the foundation year which we hope to introduce for every course.A report of their recommendations will be ready by early April," said FTII director, DJ Narain.
The apex committee members comprises personalities like theatre doyenne, Vijaya Mehta, senior architect Romi Khosla, former Jawaharlal Nehru University professor Jyotindra Jain, Raghu Menon from Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, FTII's chairman, filmmaker Saeed Mirza, FTII's former director, Tripurari Sharan, Narain and FTII's former faculty, Suresh Chabria, to name some.
Once ready, the report will be presented to the Governing Council by mid-April for further go-ahead, Narain said. "The idea is to have in place an eclectic mix of content in the syllabi, which will essentially add to the domain knowledge of the arts in holistic terms, explain the arts in the existing socio-cultural milieu and provide an artistic understanding to students who are opting for various full-time courses on offer at FTII. Therefore, we have in mind a foundation year or term comprising 16 to 20 weeks common to all courses to facilitate this kind of study," Narain said.
Changes in terms of exercises in every course, infrastructure and pedagogy will also be expected, Narain said. "We have to move with the changing times. Efforts will be on to have exercises for certain courses that put to use the high definition (HD) format for filmmaking. Courses will also be tweaked to do away with unnecessary exercises and add relevant ones. We are also gathering inputs from our students regarding such tweaking of courses. Teaching techniques will also need to change, depending upon the course content. We are laying emphasis on having mentors on board to guide students closely," Narain added.
The last time changes to the existing FTII syllabi were made was in 2003. "This time, we are making sure the necessary changes come through. We are hopeful of this," Narain said.
Further changes in existing infrastructure are also on the cards. "We will need equipment supporting the HD format, as well as more knowledge centres and libraries, new classroom theatres and additional floor for more studios and classrooms. We are working out these requirements. By next year, work on a new, state-of-the-art auditorium will begin at FTII," he said.