Mahesh Bhatt quits FTII in despair

PUNE, Dec 14: The 21st convocation at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) that got underway after eight years was definitely ...

PUNE, Dec 14: The 21st convocation at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) that got underway after eight years was definitely one with a difference! The students wearing black badges as a mark of protest and carrying placards forced the FTII president and noted film director Mahesh Bhatt to resign.

Throwing up his hands in despair as he did while making the last speech as FTII society president at the convocation, Bhatt’s moment of introspection compelled him to cry out, “Thus far and not farther.”In his inimitable style he pondered reflectively over the clash of his personal ideology against the principles of an institution and gratefully acknowledged that it was the students who asked him what was the point of his heading the institute that Bhatt decided this was it.

“Institutions polish pebbles, but no institution has produced Dilip Kumars, Nabendu Ghosh or R D Mathurs. You pick up the craft, go out with gratitude and humility to face an infinite vista of ignorance. I do not believe in organised education, but that’s my personal philosophy. If I respect your vision, why don’t you mine,” Bhatt asked the students while making it clear that he was handing over his resignation and would be utterly grateful for his encounter with students and ex-students earlier in the day who were responsible for pointing out the `dichotomy in his life’.

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When contacted by media persons later, Bhatt averred that he had no illusions that problems would continue to dog the institute. “The students’ demands are always legitimate, but they needed to have a certain reverence to life,” Bhatt said. “This is a watershed event and we need to do some introspection,” he said.

Students who applauded Bhatt’s decision to resign from the post told media persons later that they had asked for his resignation at the meeting held prior to the convocation. Students recalled the time when Bhatt had during his earlier meetings allegedly said that had he been the Prime Minister of the country, he would have shut down FTII.

The Academic Council is scheduled to meet within two days.Students carried placards bearing bold messages of `Please don’t kill the institute’, `Misfits- Ha’, `Please implement revised syllabus’, `Maintain excellence in cinema’ and `Don’t stop subsidy to film education’.

“The Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Jaipal Reddy has called us for a dialogue tomorrow. We had not intended any disrespect and had worn black badges as a mark of protest,” the Students Association of FTII said in their open letter to the thespian Dilip Kumar.

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Pained by the showdown, veteran film actor Dilip Kumar lashed out against `this blatant washing of dirty linen in public.’ The living legend who turned 75 just a few days ago and has been witness to `political wild jamborees’, made no bones about his sheer disgust at the `ill-advised’ style in which the diploma awardees displayed their ire and in an impromptu speech that stunned the wits of those present.“We are deeply concerned that our peaceful protest has hurt your sentiments, but when we are up against a wall, we have few options,” rued the students urging Dilip Kumar to give them a fair hearing.Ã¿