FTII Row: Road to politicising academics?

In June, all the students of the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune went on an indefinite strike with boycotting of everything from classes to the extra-curricular activities and projects in the institute. The interesting thing to be noted is that this strike is still going on with the students totally remaining rooted to their stand on getting their issues addressed. The institute which is under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has been the alma mater for stalwarts of Indian Cinema, like Om Puri and Oscar winning sound engineer, Resul Pookutty. So, the question arises as to why a bunch of young and dynamic artists and the future of Indian cinema is in loggerheads with the institute management?

The row started with the appointment of actor-turned-BJP politician Gajendra Chauhan to become the new Chairman of FTII in June by the I & B ministry. The reason for the students being totally against this appointment is due to the background of the new chairman. Gajendra Chauhan is best known for his role as ‘Yudhishthira’ in the famous long, running soap ‘Mahabharat’. Chauhan has done multiple other television soaps of inferior quality and a large number of B-grade and vulgar hindi movies. 

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Gajendra Chauhan has shown his incompetence for taking up this role by his absolute lack of knowledge on contemporary Indian cinema and trying to justify his appointment with the sheer volume of work he has done till date, rather than the quality of the work he has done. Are the students unjustified in questioning whether this is the person the next generation of stellar Indian filmmakers should look up to? Is this the person who will be the representative of Indian cinema in global film festivals – A person who hasn’t frequented even the local film festivals? Won’t the Indian film industry be judged when such a person will have to share the dais with personalities like Woody Allen?

The political allegiance of Gajendra Chauhan towards BJP and his credentials at present for this post raises questions on the transparency of the nomination of the post. According to Gajendra Chauhan, he should just be given a chance to prove his worth and that he is going to continue as the Chairman and he is dutifully fulfilling a duty given to him by the government. The students have made it clear that they do not want Mr. Chauhan to be the head as he is not a person who they can look up to. This has led to the character defamation of the students at a point branding them as ‘anti-nationals’ and ‘naxalites’ at some point. Many big names in Indian film industry rose up with their support for the students and questioning the government’s decision, such as actors Anupam Kher, Ranbir Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor and the critically acclaimed filmmaker, Anand Patwardhan among a few. 

They all were of the viewpoint that Mr. Chauhan should gracefully resign as the situation is at complete loggerheads and he should not try to demand respect forcefully from students. The students also tried to contact the minister of state for information and broadcasting, Rajyawardhan Singh Rathore for a discussion on this issue. They did not get any response from the I & B ministry despite several efforts to initiate a discussion. The students then reached out to MP’s from different political affiliations to look at the issue and ask some support. This has been a turning point in this issue, as the politicians from opposition took this issue as an opportunity to rally against the government and its decision. This has been clear from the visit of Congress Vice President, Rahul Gandhi’s visit to the campus and Aam Aadmi Party’s Arvind Kejriwal showing solidarity towards the students.

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Due to these recent turn of events, this issue has taken a turn from being a conflict between the students of an educational institution and the administration to the ideological conflict between different political parties in India. This solidarity shown by the opposition leaders has made the government more concrete on their decision and has weakened the case of the students.

But, in my opinion, this appointment is something which should clearly come under the radar and shows that political affiliations are more important than merit and credentials for a good position in our nation, which is not a desirable image of our country. This projects an image that if I have the good political connections, I can be the chief of any major organisation, even though I have not contributed anything valuable in the field. But I also think that the students are not doing complete justice because the protests may be for a good cause, but they are not protesting constructively. They should be protesting towards this without sufficing their studies. A synergetic talk between the student representatives and the ministry towards the appointment can bring out a solution to this row, which was not supposed to be so sensationalised and politicised when our nation has many other major pressing problems at the wake, like increasing terrorist activities and J&K.

About the Author : Albin Jose did his schooling from Noida and completed his B.Tech from IIT Madras and currently working with an education based-firm in Mumbai. In free time, he like to read and go on treks in and around Mumbai. Through his articles he want to spread awareness among the aspirants.