College,Camera,Action!

The colleges charge as much as Rs 10,000 per hour or more and it seems like a win- win deal for both sides. However,college authorities are tightening the strings around their campuses and have laid down stricter criteria for allowing films to be shot within the college premises. R J Pardeshi,principal,Fergusson College,where parts of The Legend of Bhagat Singh and Gandhi were shot, says,“Shooting a movie on campus is a different experience. But we make sure that only educational films are allowed. And we do not charge anything in that case.” The Maharashtra Institute of Technology (MIT) is constantly flooded with requests for film shoots. Rahul Karad,director,MIT,says,“But we are quite sensitive about the fact that a college is not a place for entertainment. Only if there are socially relevant movies being shot do we give permission. Also,the crew has to abide by the college rules like no smoking inside the campus,eating only vegetarian food in the campus and following the code of decent behaviour.” Ask him about the charges the college levies on production houses,and he says,“There are ‘no charges as such’.” A similar stand is reflected in the popular film-shoot destination – Deccan College. Its principal Vinayak Bhat says,“We charge nominal fees for such shootings. But we prefer that weekends are used so that daily agendas and research processes of students and teachers are not affected.”

There have also been individual concerns about film shoots in the past. For example,in 2002 during the shooting of The Legend of Bhagat Singh,the Shirole family (original owners of Fergusson College land) lodged a police complaint alleging the activity violated a court order staying commercial activities on campus . Pranjal Deshmukh,an alumnus of the college,remembers,“I was an Economics student,quite unaware of how a film is shot. The whole experience was like a lesson in film-making but the controversy dampened our eager-beaver spirits!” Such hindrances though haven’t stopped film production houses from continuing to pick out city colleges.

While Pune may boast of being one of Bollywood’s favourite spots,the college students have a mixed response to this practice. Priyanka C,a student at SIMC,reveals,“The shoot has been going on for a few weeks. The canteen is off bounds for students and we have to make do with limited choices for food. The library is completely banned for us and there are guards everywhere. When a scene if being filmed outside our hostel,it restricts our movement.” Another student Purvi K,agrees. “Yes,a lot of students do find it strenuous. But then the charm of seeing Salman dancing or delivering a dialogue is quite overwhelming! Also,a lot of students are selected to be a part of the movie as junior artistes or production members,which makes for a unique experience,” she says.

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