FTII protest finds support in Bengal filmmakers

It’s been more than a month since the students of Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, went on a strike. And, it seems the students’ protest against the newly-appointed society of council members has reached an impasse. The institute has issued a notice saying it will rusticate protesting students. The students’ meeting with Arun Jaitley has been inconclusive. The centre has chosen to keep mum. And RSS mouthpiece has touted FTII as anti-Hindu. At such a time, the students have found support in eminent filmmakers, distinguished alumni and revered professors of film studies from the city. In a meeting on Monday, the 49th day of the strike, directors Aparna Sen, Suman Mukhopadhyay, Indranil Roy Chowdhury, Anik Dutta, Ashoke Viswanathan and JU Film Studies professor Sanjay Mukhopadhyay, and other FTII alumni, pledged their support to the students’ cause.

Aparna Sen, Actress, Filmmaker: FTII is an institute of national pride. These institutes, which encourage an open and transparent atmosphere of dialogue, are the breeding ground of anti-establishment voices. That is just one of the reasons they are important for a country’s progress. If these students do not have somebody with a vision, who can inspire their individuality, then that just amounts to drowning the voices of revolution.

Suman Mukhopadhyay, Filmmaker, Thespian: The encroachment of politics in the education sector is a democratic tragedy that this country seems ill-equipped to handle. But, the least we can ensure, is that a seat of importance is occupied by someone capable of handling the responsibilities! A person, who has a body of work relevant to the position. A person who is capable of designing a course in keeping with the institute’s heritage.

Anik Dutta, Filmmaker: The centre has turned itself into a laughing stock. I sometimes feel like this step, to appoint these people as part of the FTII society, was in fact a calculated move to provoke this kind of a reaction!

Sanjay Mukhopadhyay, Prof of Film Studies, JU: This is an institute that boasts of a VP named Ritwik Ghatak. He was a master filmmaker, but, as a teacher too, he was unparalleled. Look at the names associated with the most prestigious film institutes of the world. Gabriel Garcia Marquez with Cuba’s institute, Andrei Tarkovsky from Russia’s film school, Milan Kundera from Academy of Performing Arts in Prague... Gajendra Chauhan might be an excellent actor, but do you wish to tell me that he knows the use of different lenses? Or how technology has changed the face of cinema over the years?

Indranil Roy Chowdhury, Filmmaker, FTII alumnus: The minister, who was on the committee to appoint this council, is an ex-armyman. I want to ask, will the reverse, where a film personality is entrusted with appointing a minister, ever be possible in India? No. That is because, the perception is, culture, education and all the s**t that follows is an easy game. And everybody who watches films is an expert. The thing is, the government is proving that they do not have people to pass off as legitimate appointments for important roles. What scares me is it won’t stop with FTII and spread to the level of primary schools.

Saurav Sarangi, FTII alumnus, Filmmaker: We have seen the man in question do a long-running soap. We might have seen him do a few B-grade film, soft porns we call them. And then we have seen him campaigning for BJP. Is appointing him to the position of FTII's director a prize for that?

Ashoke Viswanathan, Filmmaker, FTII alumnus: There was, a couple of years ago, an initiative to declare FTII and SRFTI as Institute of National Importance. Why has nothing been done on that front yet? I think the students should include this in their list of demands too! We have delayed enough.