Pune: The year 2018 was seemingly a happening year for the Film and Television Institute of India as it witnessed the resignation of actor Anupam Kher from the post of chairman within one year, an 84-day-long protest by the students in the premises over the syllabus and appointment of a new chairman and many such events.
Resignation of Anupam Kher
Citing his prior commitments to an international shoot as the reason, Kher resigned from the post of FTII’s Governing Council Chairman, almost within a year from his appointment. Television Producer Brijendra Pal Singh of CID fame was appointed in his place instead recently by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. With many pending issues pertaining to the syllabus and disappointment with Kher for not addressing them efficiently, the students’ association now hopes that the new chairperson interacts with students more frequently and resolves the issues.
The ‘84-day-long protest’ for syllabus and infra
This year too was marked with another 84-day long protest by the students of the 2016 and 2017 batches over the irregularities in the revised credit-based syllabus. While the students demanded that the syllabus must be given to them all at the beginning of the year so that they could plan accordingly, the institute maintained that it will be provided only at the beginning of each semester. The students also complained that the infrastructure provided was inadequate and needed to be improved, and had boycotted the classes over it. The classes were resumed after assurances from the administration that measures will be taken to rectify it. However, Aadhith V Sathvin, President of FTII Students’ Association told Sakal Times that the students still want the new chairman to look into the matter for a long-term solution considering the future batches.
On-shoot accident of students
Anuj Ujavane and Satish Kumar, students of Diploma in Filmmaking (2013 batch) were injured after they fell off a camera crane during an outdoor shooting during their diploma film near Shrivardhan at the end of September. While Anuj broke his collarbone, Satish had fallen on his head.
Reacting to the incident, the students had alleged that the equipment provided to the students for the shooting was of poor quality and despite the students complaining about it for quite some time, the same vendor was being appointed for the equipment every time due to favouritism. However, FTII Director Bhupendra Kainthola had maintained that the students had checked the equipment before the shoot themselves.
Infrastructural developments in premises
Recently, a new state-of-the-art classroom theatre (CRT) complex was inaugurated in the FTII premises. The CRTs are equipped with advanced sound systems like Dolby Atmos and Dolby 7.1 and digital cinema projectors. The canteen in the institute premises too got a makeover earlier this year. The new canteen has energy efficient LED lighting, landscaped garden and fixed exterior granite-topped seating and dining areas.
First ever JET
This year, for the first time, an All India Joint Entrance Test (JET) was conducted for the admissions to FTII and Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI). The test was conducted at 21 centres across the country in February, for which more than 5,000 candidates appeared. JET was also marred by controversy as the students thought that the fees charged were exorbitant, to which the FTII director had replied that the fees seemed high but were actually a sum of the entrance tests of both institutes.
Accolades won by the students
In one of the most noteworthy achievements for the institute this year, three FTII students were felicitated with top honours at the 65th National Awards this year. Arun Kuppuswamy (Dir: Monday), Medhpranav Powar (Dir: Happy Birthday) and Swapnil Kapure (Dir: Bhari Dupari) won accolades in the non-feature films category.
In another notable feat, three students from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) along with film researchers from South Africa and Europe explored Maheshwar, Madhya Pradesh for BRICS project ‘Visual Practices and Methodologies Research, India Chapter 2018-19’ on the theme ‘Geographies of Gender’.
