FTII Row: Strike is to uphold things we stand for… FTII’s survival

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Over the past one week, the students have been protesting against the central government’s announcement of TV actor ‘Yudhishthir’ Gajendra Chauhan of the serial Mahabharata fame as the president of the FTII’s governing council and chairman of FTII society.

The students have put up posters all across the campus. Along with the old paintings of renowned filmmakers are the newly written quotes about revolution and their protest.

“This strike is for upholding all those things that the institute stands for. Our strike is not against an ideology. This institute has given us freedom to make whatever film we want. If I want to shoot someone nude in my project, I can. If I want to make an anti-religion film, burn an effigy of Mahatma Gandhi for a film, make a film against Narendra Modi, I can. Nobody will question me or stop me. All the faculty will look for is whether my film has the merit to be screened or not,” says a student.

“But when there are five members in the society chosen only because of their leaning towards a certain ideology that has in the past raised many objections against freedom of expression and is known to be intolerant, then our protest becomes a fight of survival for what FTII stands for; i.e. total and absolute freedom,” says another student.

Outsiders are not allowed in the meeting which, on all nights since the strike started, goes on till 3 am or even later. A make-shift canteen has been set up nearby which sells tea, omelette and other snacks. “Udhari nahi milegi” is written with a black chalk inside the canteen along with the rate chart of the items available.

“See, everybody is on our side here, the faculty, non-teaching staff, other workers, even the canteen people. They know that we will go on strike with the same passion even for upholding their rights. The institute has seen 39 strikes till now. We have even protested against Adoor Gopalakrishnan and U R,” says Ashwini Kumar, another student.

The support is evident as the bill generated for tea consumed by the students of FTII while on strike is reportedly paid by a senior faculty member.

The FTII student body elections are held once a year by voting and there is also a negative voting clause in the election. But for the strike, the student body has made a core committee of eight members, which includes Harishankar Nachimuthu, Sakshi Gulati, Lavanya Ramaiiya, Vikas Urs, Ranjit Nair, Manish Pal Singh, Raju Biswas and Nasir Khan. Helping this team in advisory roles are Ajayan Adat and Rakesh Shukla.

Harishankar Nachimuthu (26) is from Tamil Nadu. Coming from a middle class family, Harishankar has done BSc in computer science and Master of Arts from Loyola College, Chennai. Currently, he is the president of the students’ council and has been a member of academic council and syllabus council of the college. “I was offered a job by Infosys after my MA, but then the results of FTII were announced and I decided to come here. See, many people think we are leftists. This is an image created by the media. Anybody who stands up for his rights is not a leftist. I am totally apolitical. I don’t subscribe to any ideology because I think there are faults in all ideologies. Secondly, film-making does not allow you to have a colour, otherwise the films you make are nothing but propaganda and FTII does not teach you that,” says Nachimuthu.

Raju Biswas is someone who has become the face of the protest with his long beard, unkempt long hair, unwashed kurta, torn jeans and slippers. “I don’t understand why a certain look is associated with leftists? I have even been called a Maoist, which is outrageous. My parents are settled in Delhi and my father was a small-time business man. After completing BA in English from Delhi University and MA in mass communication from Jamia Milia Islamia, I came here and since 2011, this has been my home,” said Biswas.

The strongest part of FTII is its alumni association. The likes of Santosh Shivan or Resul Pookutty are regularly in contact with students despite their busy schedules, taking a stock of what is happening. The reason and a sentence repeated by every student is, “FTII is a family. When you come here, you are from Bihar, you are from Kerala, etc. But when you go out, you are from FTII and that becomes our identity. That is why when the strike started, people from all over the world who have ever been associated with FTII started supporting us,” says Biswas.

It is 2.30 am and the debate continues with topics ranging from gender equality to elitism. “The debates go on till 3 or 4 in the morning. Some of us then sleep here and the rest of us go back to our dorms and the next day morning by 9, we all are up and working again on whatever was discussed in the meeting. The core committee members meet and talk about how to address the press conferences and other things,” says Manish Pal Singh, another student.

The press conferences are presided over by Rakesh Shukla, Vikas Urs, Harishankar Nachimuthu and Ranjeet Nair. With an impeccable command over Hindi language and excellent knowledge about Indian political system, Rakesh Shukla, a final-year student of direction is the kind of brain that is mostly shown behind every student protest in Bollywood movies.

“There are four people in the entire society that we know have RSS links. On one hand, the government talks about making this an institute of national importance and on the other it has kept such members in the team whose only claim to this society is their saffron affiliation. Yahan to sab bhagwa ho jayega,” says Shukla.

Asked about their next if the government does not relent, a student says, “We are ready to protest for even months. The next admission procedure will be delayed because of this. The new syllabus has been made but only on the macro level and without the proper modelling, it is of no use. And for that, the governing council should meet and select an academic council in which there are two student members. Hence, it is upto the government to decide now. If they are ready to select someone with proven credentials in film-making, we will withdraw the strike. Otherwise, this will go on,” says Ajayan.