Six months on, Gajendra Chauhan set to take charge

Actors Vidya Balan and Satish Shah, director Raj Kumar Hirani are among the appointees to the FTII Society. Shah, film journalist Bhawana Somaaya and producer B P Singh were appointed as members last month by the I&B ministry in place of veteran director Jahnu Barua, actor Pallavi Joshi and cinematographer Santosh Sivan, who had resigned in July in protest against “unjust and unsuitable” appointments on the Society.

Despite this, the Ministry had deferred the FTII Society meeting until the end of International Film Festival of India (IFFI) to “avoid unwanted trouble” during the international event.

Confirming the latest development, Chauhan told The Indian Express that he had received a communication from the FTII administration on Friday informing him about the date and venue of the FTII Society meeting and asking him to assume charge.

“Yes. I got a communication from the institute and a go-ahead from the Ministry to hold the meeting of the FTII Society. The meeting will take place on December 18 and all the society members are likely to attend the meeting,” said Chauhan.

Asked about the issues high on his mind to discuss in his first meeting at the FTII, Chauhan said he was waiting to get a copy of the agenda of the meeting. Asked if he was anticipating any trouble from the students who have in the past vowed to not let him and four other contentious appointees enter the premises, Chauhan said he was confident of a peaceful meeting. “I want to engage with everyone, including the students. I don’t think they will create any trouble. It will be a peaceful meeting,” he said.

Harishankar Nachimuthu, president of FTII Students’ Association, said a decision regarding their response to the meeting would only be taken after internal deliberations. “With the current constitution of the society, we don’t welcome the meeting. We shall make our plans public once we get an official communication about the meeting,” said Vikas Urs, a cinematography student and students’ body spokesperson.

Students of the institute had gone on a strike to oppose the appointment of Chauhan, Narendra Pathak (former chief of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad), Anagha Ghaisas (documentary film-maker) and Shailesh Gupta (cinematographer who made a campaign video for Prime Minister Narendra Modi for 2014 elections) on the institute’s society.

The students had said that these appointments were unacceptable as the appointees were not qualified enough to be on the body of the prestigious institute. After agitating for four months, the students withdrew the strike on October 29 saying they would continue to oppose the appointments through “passive resistance”.