As an alumnus of the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, I feel sad seeing what has been happening at the prestigious institute for months now. The government must pay attention to the issue and sort out the matter immediately. Dragging it is only making things murkier by the day.
Disagreements have happened in the past, protests have taken place as well, but the director of the institute has always held a respectable place for the students, during my time and even after that. I wasn’t present at the scene when all this happened, but from what I have read in the papers, the students gheraoed the director and misbehaved with him. If this is true, such behaviour shouldn’t be tolerated at any cost.
After all, you are there to study cinema and make films, not to retort to goonism. This institute has been respected as sacred for years now and such incidents only bring shame to it. If students have an issue with Gajendra Chauhan, they should fight with the government, gherao the Parliament if they want a solution. The government is answerable to them. Targeting the director of the institute makes no sense and will not solve any of their issues. It serves no purpose.
What they have done is wrong. The government takes decisions, not the director of the institute. I understand that they are protesting and have certain issues — about how things are functioning — but they can’t behave like gundas. Misbehaviour is totally unacceptable, and if they do misbehave, they can’t blame the director for taking action and getting the police to conduct arrests.
Having said this, I have always maintained that you need someone who has substantial knowledge of cinema at the post of chairman of FTII. The person has to inspire students to make meaningful cinema. Films are not just about song and dance. You have to prepare students for the kind of cinema that veterans like Bimal Roy, Guru Dutt and Raj Kapoor made.
Song and dance is part of it, but it also had a great message. So what students can do is, get filmmakers like Ketan Mehta, Jahnu Barua, Shyam Benegal, and make them sit with Mr Chauhan and question him about whether he can give them the same kind of knowledge and inspiration to make films. The other option is giving Mr Chauhan a chance — three to six months — and then deciding if he is fit for the post or not. It’s about giving both sides a chance to put their points forward, get the government to reconsider their decision and come up with a solution. Violence and playing the blame game isn’t the way forward.
The writer is a critically-acclaimed actor
