Lull after the storm on FTII campus

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The students have been protesting against the appointment of TV actor and BJP leader Gajendra Chauhan as the FTII society president and others as its members.

Things took a turn for the worse after the new director Prashant Pathrabe, who took charge on July 17, ordered that the film projects of the 2008 diploma batch students be assessed even if they were incomplete and students asked to vacate the campus after the assessment process.

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On Monday, students reached Pathrabe’s office and allegedly confined him there for seven hours after which the police had to be called in to rescue him. Some students also sustained injuries while resisting the police action.

On Tuesday, however, things seemed normal in the campus. Pathrabe didn’t visit the FTII, instead reportedly going for a routine medical check-up. The previous night, he had promised the students that he would put the assessment process on hold and talk to the joint secretary in the I&B ministry the next morning.

Ranjeet Nair, a representative of FTII’s Students’ Association, said, “Had one or two students failed to complete their projects, the government’s stand would have been justified. But here, the whole batch has not been able to complete the projects. This is due to the failure of administration and lack of infrastructure.

Pathrabe had promised us that no decision would be made until a meeting with students was held. However, he called some of us at 3 pm in his office on Monday and told us he had decided to conduct the assessment process. We were left with no other option but to gherao him.”