Skip to main content

Film and TV Institute students draft petition, tell new chief, BJP's Gajendra Chauhan, he is "unfit" for the job

Chauhan in BR Chopra's Mahabharata
By Our Representative
In a scathing attack on Gajendra Chauhan’s appointment as new chief of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), the protesting students of India’s one of the most prestigious institutes have drafted a petition telling him that he was chosen because he was “meant to be a puppet of the government”. Telling him that he lacks “capabilities” to lead the institute, the petition says, there is “a huge anomaly” in his body of work and “the very principles and aesthetic FTII stands for.”
The petition, which it titled “Paap se dharti FTII”, says, “When we first heard about your appointment we knew little about you except those of us who had grown up on Mahabharata, the BR Chopra serial.” On looking up for more information to get to know about him, it says, “We began to smell a rat”, adding, “You, as we saw, are unfit for the job, but more important than that this is a strike against the increasing interference of the ruling party to drive its agenda throughout the country.”
Pointing out that FTII stands for freedom of thought, freedom of speech, individuality and unbridled self-expression, the petition says, FTII is the only film institute in India which has a “global perspective on cinema as a pure aesthetic medium without any mercenary considerations.”
It adds, “Cinema here is taught from the lessons and learnings of world greats by people who understand it as an art-form, to students who want to become artists not assembly line film-makers. This requires a certain bent of mind and commitment to cinematic arts.”
Telling Chauhan that he has “no connection whatsoever with FTII” – he has never even visited the institute – the petition says, “You may say you will learn on the job, but we aren’t talking about hiring an intern.”
Asking him to “seriously reconsider and withdraw”, the petition tells Chauhan of the type of luminaries who have headed the institute – Adoor Gopalkrishnan, Shyam Benegal, Girish Karnad, UR Ananthamurthy, Saeed Mirza, and so on.
Especially taking exception to Chauhan’s recent statement that Rajkumar Hirani was the last film-maker of reckoning FTII produced, the petition reminds him of ‘Vihir‘, a terrific Marathi film was chosen at Berlin in the competition section and it was made by an FTII alumnus. “Last year, in 2014,‘Killa’, a Marathi film has won the Crystal Bear at Berlin”, and the director “a cinematography student here”, the petition says.
Giving more details, the petition says, there was ‘Masaan’, which won two awards at Cannes this year, the Ajay Devgan starrer ‘Drishyam’, also made by an FTII alumnus. “Our diploma films have been selected in competition at Berlin this year, ‘Kamakshi’ being a case in point. ‘Chitrashala’, another short film selected at Berlin this year is made by Amit Dutta, an FTII alumnus again”, it insists.

Comments

TRENDING

Importance of Bangladesh for India amidst 'growing might' of China in South Asia

By Samara Ashrat*  The basic key factor behind the geopolitical importance of Bangladesh is its geographical location. The country shares land borders with Myanmar and India. Due to its geographical position, Bangladesh is a natural link between South Asia and Southeast Asia.  The country is also a vital geopolitical ally to India, in that it has the potential to facilitate greater integration between Northeast India and Mainland India. Not only that, due to its open access to the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh has become significant to both China and the US.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

'BBC film shows only tip of iceberg': Sanjiv Bhatt's daughter speaks at top US press club

By Our Representative   The United States' premier journalists' organisation, the National Press Club (NPC), has come down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for recent "attacks on journalists in India." Speaking at the screening of an episode of the BBC documentary “India: The Modi Question,” banned in India, in the club premises, NPC President Eileen O’Reilly said, “Since Modi came to power we have watched with frustration and disappointment as his regime has suppressed the rights of its citizens to a free and independent news media."

Chinese pressure? Left stateless, Rohingya crisis result of Myanmar citizenship law

By Dr Shakuntala Bhabani*  A 22-member team of Myanmar immigration officials visited Rohingya refugee camps in Cox's Bazar to verify more than 400 Rohingya refugees as part of a pilot repatriation project. Does it hold out any hope for the forcibly displaced people to return to their ancestral homes in the Rakhine state of Myanmar? Only time will tell.

China ties up with India, Bangladesh to repatriate Rohingyas; Myanmar unwilling

By Harunur Rasid*  We now have a new hope, thanks to news reports that were published in the Bangladeshi dailies recently. Myanmar has suddenly taken initiatives to repatriate Rohingyas. As part of this initiative, diplomats from eight countries posted in Yangon were flown to Rakhine last week. Among them were diplomats from Bangladesh, India and China.

Over-stressed? As Naveen Patnaik turns frail, Odisha 'moves closer' to leadership crisis

By Sudhansu R Das  Not a single leader in Odisha is visible in the horizon who can replace Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. He has ruled Odisha for nearly two and half decades. His father, Biju Patnaik, had built Odisha; he was a daring pilot who saved the life of Indonesia’s Prime Minister Sjahrir and President Sukarno when the Dutch army blocked their exit.

Natural farming: Hamirpur leads the way to 'huge improvement' in nutrition, livelihood

By Bharat Dogra*  Santosh is a dedicated farmer who along with his wife Chunni Devi worked very hard in recent months to convert a small patch of unproductive land into a lush green, multi-layer vegetable garden. This has ensured year-round supply of organically grown vegetables to his family as well as fetched several thousand rupees in cash sales.

Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, Ban Ki-moon, others ask Bangladesh PM to 'protect' Yunus

Counterview Desk  A campaign has been launched to support Bangladesh-based economist, micro-finance guru and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, seeking signatures from citizens across the globe in order to “protect” his work, life and safety.

Electricity sharing opens up new window for India’s eastern neighbourhood engagement

By Sufian Asif* Today, challenges like climate change, pandemics, energy reliance, economic crisis, and many more are concerning us. No nation can overcome these obstacles without the assistance and collaboration of other nations. Most importantly, many of these problems have international repercussions. South Asia is facing much more difficulty when compared to other regions. In South Asia, we have some regional organizations, but they are ineffective.