THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:Filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan has criticised the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan as Chairman of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, saying that eminence has to be proven and not granted.
“Never before in the history of Film and Television Institute of India has anyone asked the question about a new chairman. Who is this person?” Adoor said.
Terming the controversy as a cultural issue rather than a political one, he said that since the institute is registered under Societies Registration Act, the decision can be legally questioned in court.
Adoor, who has previously chaired the institute, said that the creative atmosphere of Film and Television Institute of India has to be protected.
“There have been attempts to make Hindi the medium of instruction and we have fought it tooth and nail. Now it won’t be long before Hindi becomes the medium of instruction and the institute is privatised,” he said.
The meeting was chaired by senior journalist B R P Bhaskar. Filmmaker K R Mohanan shared the concern of film lovers about the imminent death of the stimulating ambiance of FTII, the key to which is artistic freedom.
“If the governing body starts dictating the themes on which films are made at the institute, students will miss out on the dynamics at FTII that shape their sensibility,” he said.
Film director T V Chandran minced no words to denounce the move saying that nicknames borrowed from mythology can be extended to other office-bearers in line with Gajendra Chauhan’s epithet, ‘Yudhistira’. His role as the eldest Pandava in B R Chopra’s ‘Mahabharata’ series is arguably his only claim to fame.
Cinematogrpaher and filmmaker Venugopal and Principal of L V Prasad Film & TV Academy Beena Paul, filmmaker Lenin Rajendran, film critics V K Joseph and V N Murali, cinematographer Ramachandra Babu spoke.
