3 min readMumbaiUpdated: Oct 22, 2024 02:43 PM IST
This is a semester-long course offered by the IDC School of Design at the IIT Bombay which is available for BTech, MTech and even PhD students from the engineering field. (Image: @Educational-Outreach-IIT-Bombay)
With the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay opening its courses to outsiders under Educational Outreach, an easy assumption would be that they would be tech-oriented courses or those from the field of science. But here is a unique offering by the IIT Bombay, a course titled ‘Perspectives on World Cinema’, starting November.
With IIT Bombay located in Mumbai, which is a centre of entertainment industry, the course will benefit film and media professionals who have not had a chance to pursue formal education on understanding cinema, said Professor Mazhar Kamran from IDC School of Design that conducts the course.
This is a semester-long course offered by the IDC School of Design at the IIT Bombay which is available for BTech, MTech and even PhD students from the engineering field as an elective for 6 credits and is among the popular electives opted for. The BTech students are eligible for the course only after completing two years of their course.
“With close to 300 students applying for it, every year there is a waiting list of candidates,” said Prof Kamran.
The course started in the year 2016 with just 25 students, now has to close admissions after confirming 150 seats, which is the capacity of the auditorium.
An alumnus of IIT Madras, Professor Kamran joined IIT Bombay as a faculty in 2016 after over a decade-long career in Bollywood as cinematographer with impressive movies on his names such as Satya, Kaun, Jhankar Beats among all. While he teaches film-making to design students at the IDC School of Design; Perspectives on World Cinema is one of the courses by him which is IDC School of Design’s contribution to the basket of electives under the Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences, Management Entrepreneurship, and Design (HASMED) courses at IIT Bombay, a system introduced during the 2022 curriculum overhaul. The BTech students are required to earn credits from courses offered under this, apart from their core engineering subjects.
Prof. Kamran who believes that cinema is more than entertainment, reasoned the popularity of his course among IITians as he said, “It gives a larger understanding of the world and emotions which no science or technology course can offer.”
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Ajey Mehta, CEO of the Educational Outreach at IIT Bombay, noted the attention the course has garnered at the institute and said the strategic initiative aims to cater to a broad audience, providing accessible upskilling opportunities in filmmaking. “Aligning with IIT Bombay’s Educational Outreach programme’s vision to become India’s leading institution for transformative outreach education and skill-building, we have decided to launch this course,” Mehta said.
Mehta highlighted IIT Bombay, renowned for its excellence in technology, has also established a strong presence in the HASMED disciplines over the years.
Even as the course on World Cinema has been a popular choice of electives for BTech with the introduction of HASMED, Prof Kamran believes that his course is now one of those with the highest demand; leading to a new course of Classics of Popular Indian Cinema (COPIC) from 2023.
He said, “Technologist need to have this sense of a bigger world and knowledge of emotions. After all, this is what will give ideas to a technologist that can bring about a social change.”
Pallavi Smart is a Principal Correspondent with The Indian Express, Mumbai Bureau. Her reporting is singularly focused on the education sector, demonstrating exceptional Expertise and Authority across the entire spectrum of learning, from foundational schooling to advanced higher education. She is a highly Trustworthy source for policy, institutional developments, and systemic issues affecting students, teachers, and parents in Maharashtra.
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