Students to seek special status for FTII

PUNE: The students association of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) on Thursday said it would form a panel which will seek an appointment for talks with the information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry.
"As many as 50 alumni members of the Mumbai chapter of the film institute, GraFTII, came to extend their support on Thursday. We will prepare a charter of demands before holding a dialogue with the ministry.We will demand that the institute be granted the status of Centre of Excellence. We will not withdraw our strike till the ministry hears our demands and agrees to further discussions," said Harishankar Nachimuthu, president of the FTII students' association.
Nachimuthu said besides Gajendra Chauhan's appointment as the chairperson of the FTII's governing council, students were also concerned about the nominations of Anagha Ghaisas, Shailesh Gupta, who is an FTII alumnus, Narendra Pathak and Pranjal Saikia.
The students also requested the ministry and the public not to judge them, but understand their situation. "Students have faced various difficulties in the past. If anyone talks about the backlog at the institute, there is a reason. Our syllabus was lengthy and required four to four-and-a-half years to complete. We have redrafted a new syllabus which will be helpful," said Rakesh Shukla, a member of the students' association.
The students said that if the institute is granted a Centre of Excellence status, it would come directly under the President of India and be free of any political interference.
Meanwhile, national award-winning filmmaker Kamal Swaroop, who passed out of FTII in 1974, was one of the alumni members who visited the institute on Thursday for the discussions. He said while the ministry's right to select people in the governing council could not be questioned, their choice of candidates could be.
"Filmmaking is tough business. Not everyone wants to be a commercial filmmaker here. At the FTII, students' experiment with creative ideas. These students don't know politics and the government should understand this. The government should keep politics out of education," Swaroop said.
Meanwhile, FTII director D J Narain has written to the students urging them to call off the strike. "A conducive environment is required for a constructive decision. I hope a decision is taken soon," he wrote.
The I&B ministry refuted reports that Chauhan was asked not to take charge at the institute. "The ministry never made such a statement. The report is baseless. We stand firm on our decision as conveyed to the FTII students earlier this week," a senior official in the ministry said.