3 member team to report on FTII situation
Information and Broadcasting Ministry appointed a 3 member team which will assess the ground situation in the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune. The team will be headed by the Registrar of Newspapers in India, S M Khan. Khan and 2 other officials will visit FTII and give its report on the situation there.
Information & Broadcasting Ministry's decision to appoint BJP member and actor Gajendra Chauhan as FTII president and chairman of its governing council created a stir amongst students. The students contended that Chauhan's affiliation with BJP was the reason behind his appointment. About 150 students of FTII went on a flash strike and threatened to boycott classes till their demands were met.
Gajendra Chauhan is an actor best known as Yudhishthira in the hugely popular Mahabharata TV series, other than that he has acted in daily soaps and 'B' grade movies. He is a BJP member.
The students want a reconstitution of FTII panel, which currently consists of four RSS propagandists out of the eight. These include Anagha Ghaisas (Prime Minister Narendra Modi's documentaries have been made by him); Narendra Pathak, a former president of the Maharashtra ABVP; Pranjlal Saikia and Rahul Solapurkar. The students want a more autonomous and politically unbiased panel.
Information and Broadcasting Ministry offered to talk to Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) students who were protesting against the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan as the new President of the institute. The protests till then had gone on for 5 days. Students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, Kolkata (SRFTI) and AISA activists had also joined the protest.
FTII chairman Gajendra Chauhan confirmed his unwillingness to step down from his post in the wake of protests at the institute. The former television actor said that he had been appointed looking at his experience and he was qualified enough. Gajendra Chauhan also rejected any BJP nepotism at play in his appointment. ​He chose not to comment on senior actors asking him to resign.
As the FTII strike entered its second month, the demands to sack Gajendra Chauhan as chairman grew louder. Filmmakers Aziz Mirza and Kundan Shah also demanded that he step down. Shah called the decision to appoint Chauhan as an 'absurd' one. Raj Babbar, the actor and Congress party member sought explanation from Arun Jaitley on the grounds of Chauhan's appointment.
FTII administration has set a 6 day deadline for the 2008 batch students pursuing their diploma to wrap up their pending films and submit their projects for final assessment. FTII director Prashant Pathrabe said the students will be given their diplomas and asked to leave the campus. The students contended that this was a "witch-hunt and vindictive action" against students protesting Chauhan's "unjust" appointments.
Pune police arrested students of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) for allegedly confining institute director Prashant Pathrabe to his office. They are also charged for allegedly manhandling and threatening him. The police had arrest warrant of 15 students but could manage to arrest only 5. The students have been charged with 7 different offences.
