On September 8, the spokesperson of the Bollywood filmmaker said, Rajkumar Hirani will not replace Film and Television Institute of India’s (FTII) chairman Gajendra Chauhan.”He is not replacing Gajendra Chauhan, who is heading the governing council of FTII. He has been asked to head the academic council, but will not be able to take it up as his film work keeps him occupied and he would not have the bandwidth to handle FTII work,” the director’s spokesperson said in a statement.
The spokesperson further added, “However, he will continue helping from the outside to end this deadlock between the ministry and the students,”, in reference to the students who have been on strike to oppose the appointment of actor and BJP member Chauhan as the institute’s chairman
Here all you should know about the protest:
- SC refuses to hear plea on FTII protests: On September 7, the Supreme Court dismissed, without giving any reason, a PIL seeking direction for the FTII students to end their three-month-long agitation against naming Gajendra Chauhan as the institute’s direction and for clear policies for the appointment
- The strike at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) began in the second week of June against the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan as the chairman of the Governing Council
- The central team visits FTII to hold discussions with the faculty, director and agitating students to find a solution to the crisis triggered by the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan at its chairman
- The Pune police conducted a midnight crackdown at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) campus and arrested five students on charges of rioting. The Director of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Prashant Pathrabe said that he had no choice but to have the students arrested after he was illegally confined and verbally assaulted by them
- On August 19, FTII director Prashant Pathrabe said that a group of students kept him in illegal confinement for 8-10 hours and vandalised his office, forcing him to lodge a police complaint. The post midnight, police arrested five FTII students from the campus for rioting, damaging property and other charges. “They forcefully entered and vandalised my office. I was also pushed around”
- On August 20, Kedarnath Awati, president of FTII’s Teacher’s Association said in a statement, “We condemn the manner in which students were picked up by police. If the matter would have been handled a little differently, then the problem could have been solved”
- The national award-winning filmmaker Sudhir Mishra has suggested the names of eminent directors like Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Rajkumar Hirani and David Dhawan, who he thinks deserves the position more than Chauhan
- In an open session, Rahul Gandhi asked the students who have been on strike for nearly two months over the appointment of television actor Gajendra Singh as their chairman. “Why do you think the government is so disturbed by your protests?”
Here is the list of all the past chairmen of FTII:
- Anwar Jamal Kidwai: November 1, 1974 – September 30, 1977
- SMH Burney: November 25, 1975 – September 30, 1977
- RK Laxman: November 1, 1977 – September 30, 1980
- Shyam Benegal: February 5, 1981 – September 30, 1983 & September 1989 – September 30, 1992
- Mrinal Sen: April 9, 1984 – September 30, 1986
- Adoor Gopalakrishnan: September 1, 1987 – September 1989 & November 21, 1992 – September 30, 1995
- Mahesh Bhatt: November 20, 1995 – September 30, 1998
- Girish Karnad: February 16, 1999 – October 10, 2001
- Vinod Khanna: October 12, 2001 – February 2002 & March 4, 2002 – March 3, 2005
- UR Ananthamurthy: March 4, 2005 – March 3, 2008 & March 4, 2008 – March 3, 2011
- Saeed Akhtar Mirza: March 4, 2011 – March 3, 2014
[“source-indiatoday.intoday”]
