BENGALURU: Realising that their demands for quality education and equipment are falling on deaf ears, despite over five months of protest, the students of Government Film and Television Institute are now approaching well-known names from the industry to hold workshops and classes for them.
The protest, which began in March, has now gained support from both the Karnataka and Kerala film industries apart from other film institutes. Ex-student body president Agin Basanth and other student-protesters arranged for parallel classes with Girish Kasaravalli and G S Bhaskar in Bengaluru in June and have had 13 sessions till August.
After the Malayalam industry extended its support for the protest, Ajith Kumar, and K V Subramaniyan, FTII alumni and national award winning editor Rajiv Ravi who has directed the movie Kammattipaadam and many others organised and conducted workshops for GFTI and other film students in Ernakulam from September 9 to 13. Theoretical classes on aesthetics, history, vision and beauty of filmmaking along with practical sessions on camera handling, editing, etc., were conducted in the five-day workshop.
National-award recipient (editing) for the movie Naalu Pennugal, B Ajith Kumar said that the situation is synonymous with protests by other student bodies in the country. “I support all the demands made by GFTI students. They are legitimate and required to learn filmmaking. The students have exhibited zeal for cinema in the workshops conducted. I do not understand the ignorance of authorities in such issues gripping our nation,” he said.
Ajayan Adat, alumnus and ex-student body president at FTII, pointed out the differences between FTII and GFTI’s education system. “Cinema is an ever-evolving art and hence education imparted must be top-notch. With only two departments – cinematography and sound engineering – and lack of equipment, GFTI seems to lack the vision and quality. FTII has about 20 workshops in an academic year, whereas at GFTI there seems to be no such initiatives,” he said.
In the last academic year, the students taking part in the protest boycotted their semester examinations. With support from advisers they, are rejoining college in January (even semester at GFTI). “We are not rejoining for our certificate, but for knowledge. Hopefully this will make the authorities understand that we are not polytechnic students,” said Agin Basanth.
Renuka Naidu, principal of the institute, has taken voluntary retirement and GFTI is now functioning with Ravikiran (a strong supporter of the protest initially) as the temporary principal.
The students will continue to attend parallel workshops conducted by industry’s renowned filmmakers and technicians and are also synthesising data for judiciary action against the institute by filing RTI applications.
The protesting students opposed the admission processes for the academic year 2016-2017. Parents who think GFTI is a premier institute failed to understand the current scenario. “We spoke to parents of applicants, but they were barred from talking to us,” said Agin.