FTII impasse: 50 students asked to vacate hostel

Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) administration has cracked the whip against the agitating students, setting a six-day deadline for 50 students belonging to 2008 diploma batch to finish their pending films and submit their projects for final assessment. These films have been pending due to various reasons, including “infrastructural issues”. 

FTII director Prashant Pathrabe said the students who fail to finish their films would be adjudged on the basis of their incomplete work and handed over diploma certificates and asked to leave the campus. 

The students, on the other hand, said these diploma films may need 6 to 8 months of work to complete, depending on the availability of equipment and other facilities. They alleged that the move was “nothing but a witch-hunt” by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry in response to the strike called by the students to press their demand for removal of “unfit” candidates as president and members of the FTII society.

Making the announcement, Pathrabe said: “We found that the students of 2008 batch have still not completed their diploma film projects. There are 50 such students who are working in groups on about 13 such films. These projects are at various levels of completion. I have discussed this with the Dean (Films) and others and we have decided that we will do an ‘as is where is’ assessment of these projects and try to complete the academic requirement because of which these students are overstaying.” Asked about reasons for the delay in completion of the projects, Pathrabe said there were various reasons, which included “lack of infrastructure” at the institute.

“There are various reasons, some pertaining to the institute and some pertaining to the students. There were also some issues about the lack of infrastructure. But if you go into the analysis behind the delays, it can go on and on. We thought the time had come to put a stop to this practice and take some action. It can’t be a matter of pride for any institute that students who entered in 2008 continue to stay in 2016,” Pathrabe said. Students of the 2008 batch, however, cited the lack of infrastructure, unavailability of equipment and absence of faculty for the delay in their projects. 

Ashwani Sharma, an audiography student, said: “We are not happy to stay here for so long. When I joined in 2008, my department did not have a head. Our classes and workshops were stalled for months. Work on our diploma film has been slow because we failed to get timely locations, studio shifts and technical assistants. My film will require a collaborative work of two months to finish. They never gave us any ultimatum to finish our projects. The administration should show one proof that they issued any ultimatum to us and we did not keep it.” Ravikant Vishwanathan, a film editing student, wondered how unfinished diploma films could be adjudged. He said the career of the students who would be sent out by the institute with incomplete diploma films would suffer greatly.

“Film production is a collaborative art. Once editing is done, the sound designer has to check it and the editor has to recheck it. The cinematographer has to review it coloration. So, when a project is incomplete, the work on different aspects can’t be judged,” said Vishwanathan.