Satish Shah, critic Somaaya among three nominated to FTII society

Actor Satish Shah, film critic Bhawana Somaaya and director-producer BP Singh of ‘CID’ fame have been nominated by the government as members of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) Society, which has been hit by a row over appointment of Gajendra Chauhan as president.

Official sources said while Shah and Somaaya have been nominated by the I&B Ministry as members of the FTII Society in category of persons of eminence, connected with films, TV, journalism, literature, fine arts, dramatics etc, Singh has been nominated in the category of FTII alumni.

The Ministry had reconstituted the FTII society in June this year and actor Chauhan was nominated as its president and chairman of the institute’s Governing Council. However, there were protests by students over Chauhan’s appointment and FTII Society members Jahnu Barua, cinematographer Santosh Sivan and actor Pallavi Joshi had quit.