‘Amid rapid technological changes, we must preserve cinematic soul FTII is known for’: FTII VC Dhiraj Singh

Soham Shah: So let’s start with what you are watching these days. – what is your kind of cinema?

Compared to many of my colleagues in FTII, I am just a devotee, not a practitioner of cinema. My interest lies mostly in popular cinema.

I am a big fan of Hollywood. Right now, I am developing a good taste for Malayalam cinema. I grew up on Hindi films that played on the single screen cinemas in mufassil towns of Uttar Pradesh. Amitabh Bachchan is Amitabh Bachchan for me, Dilip Kumar is Dilip Kumar for me. Recently, what I liked was the TV series, Beast in Me, the film Sinners.

I watch a lot on an IMAX screen. I am a very avid watcher of OTTs. I have started Family Man. Earlier, I liked Mirzapur and Sacred Games. Interestingly, when I went to Berkeley, Vikram Chandra, the author of that series, who is into software, took a course at Berkeley. I watch everything that comes.

Ajay Jadhav: What is the biggest challenge as an FTII director?

I face two or three key challenges. First, in the short term, FTII has become a university. During this transition, I must ensure nothing that made FTII special is lost, while gaining every advantage the university system offers. Thanks to NEP, UGC framework, and our status as an institute of excellence, this is manageable. I can continue the three-year MA course.

Second, amid rapid technological changes, we must preserve the cinematic soul FTII is known for. As a publicly funded institute, we remain affordable. We cannot become merely vocational. Creating cinematic sensitivities, aesthetic vision, and taste is a slow process. Public funding gives us flexibility—we are not driven by profit and can respond slowly to commercial pressures.

Anuradha Masceranhas: What is the feedback that is given to students and how do they handle that criticism in today’s generation?

We have a very robust and open feedback system for filmmakers on campus. Students make several films: small movies in the first semester, a dialogue exercise, a documentary, and finally the crucial diploma film.

Production-wise, we surpass many major production houses. The first two exercises are reviewed internally; documentaries and diploma films are assessed by external experts.

Each film is made by a team of five students: director (captain), cinematography, editing, sound, and art direction/production design students. They are given resources and budget, shoot, and complete post-production.

Assessment is brutal. The film is screened before seniors, peers, and faculty. Everyone questions every choice openly. Sometimes students emerge confident, sometimes depressed or angry, but they take it well. It is a vibrant, intense discussion system and part of the institute’s strong tradition.

Soham Shah: You have said that FTII is in talks with Jio, Hotstar and a few other platforms as well.

One way of getting industry input is through tie-ups. We have been developing tie-ups. Sony and Jio are in talks with us. Some interest has come from Netflix also. We have put a few of our students as interns in Amazon. We are in the nascent stages of talks with Jio Hotstar. I am trying to assess how I can benefit from them… can we do some co-productions? Can they tell our students what their requirements are? For example, if Netflix has to onboard a film product on their platform, it has to be made in a certain way, not artistically but technologically. So, it is very important for the budding filmmaker to know all that. If you are to pitch something good… something good to Netflix in future or something good to another global OTT, you should know what their standards are. Can they take those classes with us? Can they do a certain kind of incubation training with us? I think things are moving in a positive direction. We will go slow but definitely we will like to have these kinds of forces on campus so that all types of winds are there.

Sunanda Mehta: You are from JNU. FTII, like JNU, has a history of rebellion. For the last three or four years though, things are much quieter at FTII. How has this change come about?

When I was at JNU 35 years ago, it was a different time—all academic superstars, an excellent environment. I don’t know about now. I’ve been at FTII for over a year and have a sense of it. Even in its most volatile periods, FTII remained very productive. Most unrest wasn’t fully representative of students or administration. Mistakes happen on both sides. Students are here to study. If you maintain timelines and let them use their time well, things stay okay—but you never know. It’s a creative, rebellious, articulate place, as it should be. I must be careful what I say and do, yet openness and dialogue resolve most issues. In one year I faced one strike and a couple of issues, but students resolved them themselves most of the time.

Sunanda Mehta: The FTII alumni is a huge resource. Do you think that the important names there are doing enough for FTII?

Absolutely. The day I joined, I was received at my office. Getting down, I looked to the right, Prabhat Studio, and Naseeruddin Shah was standing talking to a few students. For a person like me, who is coming from Delhi, who has only seen officials and ministers, seeing an iconic person like Naseer was immense. I introduced myself. He said that he came every year.

Shatrughan Sinha and his family have two scholarships and are always available. Jaya Bachchan used to come very often, now slightly less. Adoor Gopalakrishnan came very recently, The kind of passion I see in the alumni here is something to die for.

An alumni member who has now become famous is Payal Kapadia. Her film, All We Imagine as Light, won the Grand Prix Award at Cannes. I called her to campus and she was very gracious to come. The entire community applauded her and she is always willing to give back. I have watched all her films, including her student films, which are on our YouTube channel now.. So having somebody as Payal working at the peak of her capabilities and cracking that global scale, is encouraging.

Soham Shah: In society, we are seeing a few films that are being criticised or characterised as misogynistic. What is your view on these films, and do you see any effect of these films on the students?

The students are made of sturdier stuff. If they go dark, they go really dark. They are not making films for censor board certification but to learn filmmaking. If an emotion needs to be taken to a certain level of intensity, they will take it without bothering about the niceties of things. If a particular dark emotion is to be taken to a certain point, and if the story requires that, they will definitely take it.
I also used to write criticism of cinema or reviews of films and about personalities. My thinking is very clear – a film should be assessed on what it is aiming to achieve, not what you want it to achieve. What we do sometimes is impose our values on it. Whether they have come up to the mark on those values or not, becomes our criteria. We need to understand what the filmmaker is trying to achieve and If he or she has achieved that in the cinematic idiom.

Sunanda Mehta: FTII always had this debate as to who should head it – a film person or a bureaucrat. What do you think is the difference between their ?

There are two posts: Chairman and Director. The Director is the executive head; the Chairman, the overall head, provides artistic input. Currently, R Madhavan is Chairman — a very strong person for all artistic guidance. His main idea concerns the acting school: change admission policies to bring in a younger crowd.

All FTII teachers are from the industry. Budget and administration remain. A babu might handle that better, yet we’ve had Dr Mohan Agashe, Girish Karnad, and Jagat Murari — none of whom are typical bureaucrats —as successful Directors.

For the last four – five directors, it has been film-interested colleagues like me. Bureaucrats know administrative grammar, but now, as FTII becomes a university, UGC rules will require specific Vice-Chancellor qualifications. For the transition, a bureaucrat like me may continue, but that will change soon.

Soham Shah: You mentioned that the Chairman wants a younger crowd at FTII. What is the average age currently?

Well, there is no age limit. Most of the students have done their graduation. Many of them are fresh graduates. Many of them have some experience. Last year I met an acting student who came into FTII after the fifth attempt. So, there is no limit on that attempt as well.

I think the average age is around 23 to 27. Madhavan would like to reduce this; he wants it particularly for acting.

Chandan Haygunde: Would you like to comment on the Giant African snails that have overrun the Kothrud campus of FTII?

We have got in touch with the Zoological Survey of India We had written to them. There is a group of my maintenance people working on the issue. There are other things also. There are more than 40 registered dogs on my campus. I know that dogs are a very divisive issue.

The Supreme Court has recently ruled that dogs have to be moved out of educational institutes. I will take a call when somebody complains. We ensure that every dog is vaccinated and neutered.

Dipanita Nath: Is there any interesting episode you would like to relate about in your one year at FTII?

Every day is very interesting for me. I have been doing a very similar type of work for 30 years of my career. Coming to this place, getting into things, like finding the lost films, is rewarding. When Satyajit Ray came in the late 1960s and early 1970s, there are audio tapes of his interaction. I have to dig them out. We have more than 150 films on our YouTube channel. We have the first appearance of Aamir Khan on film or of Smriti Patil in Teevra Madhyam. It gives a kick if you are able to find six films of Irrfan Khan before he became a star. Then there are three films of Ritwik Ghatak and things like that.

Prabhat is one of the oldest functioning film studios in the world. We have a good museum also. Entry is Rs 50 for the museum. I am planning to have a heritage walk with a little bit of more signage. We can point out the place where certain films were shot. You will find the place where, for the first time, Dev Anand and Guru Dutt met. They were both introduced by Prabhat. We have old cameras and old editing machines. There are various photographs. For me these things are like… Alibaba’s cave.