NEW DELHI: Veteran Bollywood actor Anupam Kher has been appointed the new chairman of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII). Kher has been considered as a long time BJP loyalist and his wife Kirron Kher is a BJP parliamentarian from Chandigarh in Punjab.
This is second such appointment in recent months in a body related to Film industry. Earlier, Prasoon Joshi, noted lyricist was appointed as head of the Censor board as the government had removed the existing chairman Pahalaj Nihlani in August this year.
Kher, 62, will succeed the controversial Gajendra Chauhan, whose appointment in 2014 had triggered widespread student protests. Chauhan’s tenure, which ended in March this year, was marked by a 139-day strike by students protesting what they perceived was a politically-motivated appointment.
The government faced a lot of flaks from several quarters for appointing its own loyalists to top posts with many alleging that Chauhan, best known for playing Yudhisthir in the TV show Mahabharata, was lacking the credentials for the post.
Kher has acted over 500 films and many plays. Kher has won the Filmfare Award for Best Performance in a Comic Role five times. Last year, he was conferred the Padma Bhushan and he received the Padma Shri for his contribution in the field of cinema and arts in 2004. He has previously held the post of chairman of the Central Board of Film Certification and director of National School of Drama.
Kher on Wednesday said he was “deeply humbled and honoured” to be appointed chairman of the ‘iconic FTII’. “I will perform my duties to the best of my abilities,” he said in a tweet. FTII, the Pune based film institute has been headed by legendary film personalities including Shyam Benegal, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Saeed Mirza, Mahesh Bhatt, Mrinal Sen, Vinod Khanna and Girish Karnad in the past.
Bollywood big personalities congratulated Anupam Kher on Twitter
Heartiest congratulations to @Anupamkher sir for being appointed as the Chairman of FTII
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