180 Filmmakers Call for President’s Intervention in FTII Deadlock

More than 180 filmmakers write a letter to the President over the FTII issue requesting him to intervene urgently.

As protests continue, more than 180 filmmakers write to the President of India, requesting his intervention to resolve the FTII issue (Photo: Facebook/FTIIWisdomTree) 

The FTII student body has been protesting against the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan, as the institute’s new Chairman, for more than 90 days now. While the film industry has lent continuous support to the protesting students, the deadlock hasn’t been resolved, as the government continues to remain silent on the whole matter.

Disappointed with the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, that has failed to resolve the crisis, over 180 filmmakers including Mani Ratnam, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Dibakar Bannerjee, Hansal Mehta, Resul Pookutty and many others, have decided to request President Pranab Mukherjee to intervene.

Graffiti art on the wall of a toilet at FTII (Photo: Facebook/FTIIWisdomTree)

This letter, the first of several concerted actions being contemplated, expresses the serious anguish and concern of the entire community and urges the Hon’ble President to intervene urgently and directly, especially in the light of the government’s inability and perhaps unwillingness to resolve the deepening crisis at FTII, which is symptomatic of a larger crisis being faced by several autonomous institutions and well-reputed centres of excellence in the country.

The letter requests for FTII to be given the status of an autonomous institution. In addition to that, it also urges the President to take charge of the institute as its Chancellor, as well as appointing an independent panel of eminent filmmakers to probe and resolve pending issues and facilitate resumption of classes and diploma projects.