A playback: Two months of FTII strike and no end in sight

Artistes’ support
Various celebrated artistes from the creative world dropped at the institute, offering their support to the students. Some of those who visited the campus were Tom Alter, Piyush Mishra, Nagaraj Manjule, dalit activist Sambhaji Bhagat, Jaideep Ahlawat, Shatrughan Sinha and so on. Besides, artistes from various genres performed at the institute. These included music bands like Altered Theory, Chutzpa and NuEdge, SIPA dance troupe, fire art performer Arpit Singh, Airplane Poetry Movement and Shanet & Ganga, folk singers from Kerala among others.

Meeting the Ministry
On the 5th day of the strike, the students got a response from the I&B Ministry showing willingness to discuss the issue, followed by an invitation for a meeting held in Delhi on July 3. The 10-member team that attended the meeting included a few FTII students as well as alumni members. However, the meeting wasn’t as successful as expected. “While a lot of assurances were given on other issues raised by us, the main issue (removal of Gajendra Chauhan and a few other members of FTII society), wasn’t discussed the way it was supposed to. It was kind of ignored,” said one of the members of the delegation.

Resignations in a row
It all started with actor Pallavi Joshi resigning from the FTII Society, followed by resignations of Jahnu Barua and Santosh Sivan. “I have been a part of the FTII Governing Council in the past and have always offered my assistance to the government as a member. However, my assessment of the current circumstances told me that things are not in the favour of institute and the students,” stated Barua on his resignation.

Rustication warning
A notice was issued on July 15 warning students that if they do not end their strike, strict disciplinary action, including rustication, would be taken against them. “Students must understand that it is not leading them anywhere and realise that disciplinary action, such as rustication, is a serious matter. This formal warning was necessary because tomorrow, they should not say that it wasn’t communicated to them,” said the then director of FTII, DJ Narain.

Patharbe replaces Narain
On July 17, Prashant Patharbe, former head of the National Film Archive of India (NFAI) and the current director of Press Information Bureau (PIB), was given additional charge of FTII as the director. He replaced Narain, who joined the institute four years ago and was given an extension a year back.

Art installation vandalised
From Day 1 of the strike, an art installation of a giant question mark made of wood and film reel had found place at the entrance of the institute as a symbol of the protest. However, on July 20, it was vandalised by a group of unknown persons late at night. Although no police complaint was filed, the students claimed the footage from a CCTV camera installed at the FTII gate showed the men committing the act seemed to be in 40s.

Protest reaches Delhi
Left with no options, the students reached the capital for a protest march on August 3. Nearly 80 FTII students gathered at Jantar Mantar around 2 pm for a protest march till Parliament House. They were joined by a 600-plus crowd, including students and faculties of Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Ambedkar College, independent filmmakers, theatre artistes and others. While some of the students were detained by the police, they were released later. Rakesh Shukla, one of the students, fractured his hand in the chaos when the students tried pushing themselves through the barricades to reach Parliament House.

Axe on students, contract staff
Last weekend, FTII administration announced that 50 students of the 2008 diploma batch would have to finish their pending projects and submit for final assessment within six days. Those who were unable to finish their films would be adjudged on “as-is-where-is” basis and will be asked to leave the campus. On the other hand, the administration asked 82 contractual employees to stop reporting to work from September 1 onwards. “There’s no work at the institute for these employees, who are employed by us through a third party agency. This way, we will save about Rs 45 lakh each month until the strike is over,” said Patharbe. On August 10, the students disrupted the screening of the diploma films saying that it’s ridiculous to judge incomplete films that were yet to be edited or were devoid of audio.