Apropos of your cover story (The Many Faces of Protest, Aug 31), the last film person to head the institute was Mohan Agashe who, ironically, had to go following student protests over his attempt to restructure some courses. The affairs of the institute can be best judged from the fact that there are about 150-200 extra students on campus, as most three-year courses—like direction, editing—stretch to 5-6 years. It also raises other concerns, like how each year FTII spends Rs 10 lakh on each student, how courses get extended, why students default on already heavily subsidised fees etc. Then there are the bitter memories, like R.K. Laxman, then a board member, being shouted down on the attempted censorship of a gay-themed diploma film. But all this doesn’t excuse the appointment of a pointed bjp man and C-grade actor as the chairman of such a prestigious institute.
M.M. Gurbaxani, Bangalore
FTII’s problems are about the mess in course design, exam patterns, project completion deadlines and the apathy towards strict adherence to rules and regulations. Like the students of the 2008 batch are yet to complete their course and project assignments while the ’09 batch had no such issues. It clearly shows student apathy. The worst part is due to this heavy backlog, in the year 2010 and ’14, no new admissions happened. This is a huge loss for students everywhere. Of course, there are administrative lapses too, which even veterans like Shyam Benegal and Adoor Gopalakrishnan could not solve. Because of your fixation on the saffronisation angle, you missed the whole story.
Dr Keshav Sathaye, Pune
The HRD minister’s appointment itself was a joke, so why cry hoarse over an FTII principal? Either get the government out of these ventures and provide the place with basic funding or let’s admit this has always been a “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch your system” affair. Clearly, the author has not spent time in any of the famed institutions of India (especially the science ones) where everything from directorship down run on crony recommendations.
S. Natarajan, San Jose, US
Sound expert Resul Pookutty, an FTII alumnus, recently had a piece that described very clearly the diagnosis and also prescribed remedies. A state-instituted panel is visiting the school, perhaps some of its famous alumni could help mediate between the two.
Hilary Pais, Bangalore
A big majority of India’s schools/colleges have mediocre staff, including principals. How students turn out depends on their talent and application, not on whether X or Y is director. If all the students were out on the streets, you would just have anarchy. Outlook doesn’t help by making heroes of agitators.
S.R. Madhu, Chennai
Throw the trouble-makers out and privatise the institute. The commies and so-called ‘libtards’ need to be taught a lesson for destroying every institution in India.
J.R. Rao, Washington
The government should have told the students at the outset to either get back to their studies or get out. Now the lunatics are running the asylum.
K. Sanjiv, Visakhapatnam
In the hands of a ‘mighty’ NDA hell-bent on pushing through its saffron agenda, educational institutions will fall like nine pins. FTII is just the beginning.
Dr George Jacob, Kochi
Why is everyone crying saffronisation, do the students mean to say the government will only admit RSS shakha members now? Isn’t Chouhan’s post merely symbolic?
Aditya Mookerjee, Belgaum
Chouhan is a joke, but who are the students calling for support? ‘Wise boy’ Rahul Gandhi? This is no ‘uprising’.
S. Sreenivas, Bangalore
These students are stuck in a depressive time warp, striking and gheraoing their supervisors. As Shyam Benegal said, why don’t they meet the new appointee and talk things out?
Priya M., Rochester, US
After ’14, it’s now obvious: the wisdom tree is being watered with a poisonous concoction.
Rakesh Agarwal, Dehradun
Many of these students would have been parents of real students if they had got a life. All our big varsities have this variety, facilitated by the free hostels and infecting the campus with their anti-national, communist or Congress hogwash. Boot them out, let’s start the Clean India campaign here.
Pra Dayal, on e-mail
These students don't care about saffronisation, they are worried about being kicked out in four-and-a-half years by the Chauhan-Irani team.
P.B. Joshipura, Suffolk, US
Students over the age of 30? I didn't know FTII was an adult school.
Gandhar, New Jersey, US
