LIES, DAMNED LIES AND STATISTICS
Three
months since FTII students went on strike against crucial government
appointments to their institute, the propaganda war against them continues
By
Anna M.M. Vetticad
They’ve been
called “anti-Hindu”, “Naxals”, “freeloaders” and “Sonia’s followers” among
other things.
In the three
months since they began their strike against certain crucial appointments to
the governing council of Pune’s Film and Television Institute of India (FTII),
all sorts of labels have been bestowed upon students of this prestigious
establishment by ruling party spokespersons and supporters. If the newly
appointed FTII chairperson Gajendra Chauhan has displayed an exceptionally
thick skin in bearing the open ridicule of his credentials across media
platforms during this period, the students are no less than dermatological
wonders.
June 12 was the
first day of the strike. Irrespective of how the Central Government resolves
this impasse, one thing needs to be said: that the defence of Chauhan has been
done through an insidious propaganda exercise aimed at maligning both FTII and
its student body.
Every propagandist
knows the efficacy of mixing slivers of facts with large helpings of fiction to
confuse the public. Repeat such grey lies often enough and even
well-intentioned mediapersons could be convinced that they are truisms.
No better example of this
strategy is required than these ‘accusations’ thrown at FTII student rep
Yashasvi Misra by Rakesh Sinha — representative of the ruling BJP’s ideological
parent, the RSS — during an NDTV debate on August 19. “In the last 17 years
there was no convocation in that institution…,” Sinha raged. “There are students
from the 2008 batches… for the last eight or nine years they are overstaying
there.”
From all accounts,
that figure of 17 years is correct, but here’s a question: how is the current
crop of students to blame for this? Convocations are organised by educational
institutions, not by students. Besides, the 17 years leading up to 2015 would
include BJP’s own brief term in the ruling alliance at the Centre, followed by
the party’s 1999-2004 reign, then the two successive Congress-led coalitions
from 2004-2014 and finally, the past one year with BJP at the Centre. So,
rather than an FTII student, shouldn’t Sinha explain why convocations haven’t
been held?
As for the
much-maligned 2008 batch, it took journalist Mridula Chari to point out on Scroll.in that they, on the contrary, were victims: FTII reportedly “doubled
the size of its student body”, without increasing infrastructure, after a
Supreme Court order that government institutions should raise the number of
reserved category seats “even while it maintained the number of general seats”.
Result: students struggling for facilities to create their mandatory graduation
film. The 2008 batch apparently “were particularly unfortunate” because,
according to FTII alumnus Jabeen Merchant who is quoted in the article: “At one
point the institution, including the administration and the dean, realised that
the backlog would spin out for all future batches. So they decided to contain
the damage by giving priority to the batches after them. Students admitted
later have finished their diploma films while the 2008 students continue to
wait their turn.”
This is just a
sampler of the effort being made to undermine the striking students. It is
possible too that the ground is being prepared for privatisation of the
institute in the future. That could explain why an impression has been created
that FTII alumni of the past couple of decades have been worthless.
During a debate in
early July on Times Now, actor Anupam Kher said: “In the last 15, 20 years…
FTII has gone to dogs.” (sic) Kher’s comment was significant because it came
even as he, an unapologetic BJP supporter, criticised the selection of Chauhan.
Gajendra
Foot-In-The-Mouth Chauhan was himself widely quoted in the press soon after his
appointment as saying: “Barring Rajkumar Hirani, the institute has not produced
any important artiste.” He later insisted that what he had actually said was:
“In the ’60s and ’70s the world knew the FTII students who passed out...
Especially after Rajkumar Hirani, the common man doesn’t know...” (Source:
rediff.com)
Well then, he
should be educating the common people. In the nearly three decades since Hirani
graduated, droves of FTII alumni have earned national and international
laurels.
Resul Pookutty, a
1995 graduate, is an Oscar and BAFTA winning sound artiste. And from the 2011
batch comes Avinash Arun, director of Killa, which won 2014’s National
Award for Best Marathi Film and a Crystal Bear in the category of films about
children at the Berlin Film Festival. If money is your only measure, then FYI
Mr Chauhan, Killa raked in big cash at theatres this year; if Bollywood
is your only area of interest, then FYI Arun is also the cinematographer of the
Ajay Devgn-starrer Drishyam and Masaan, which received two prizes
at Cannes 2015.
Other significant
figures who graduated from FTII in 2000 or thereafter include:
Gurvinder Singh,
director of the multiple National Award-winning Punjabi film Anhey Ghorhey
Da Daan (2011) and Chauthi Koot, which was selected for the Un
Certain Regard section at Cannes this year.
Pankaj Kumar,
cinematographer for Vishal Bhardwaj’s Haider (2014) and Anand Gandhi’s Ship of Theseus (2013).
Director Umesh
Kulkarni who is at the forefront of what is seen as a Marathi cinema
Renaissance in the past decade.
National Award-winning
Bollywood actor Rajkummar Rao (Shahid, Queen, CityLights).
National Award
winner G Murali, cinematographer of the Tamil films Madras (2014) and
Rajinikanth’s next, Kabali.
And… That’s the
point, there is not enough room here for an exhaustive list.
It’s not about
being anti/pro-BJP/Congress/Left/Hindus/Naxals. There is only one position
worth taking in this battle, and that, dear propagandists, is pro-cinema.
(Anna MM Vetticad is the author of The Adventures of an Intrepid Film Critic. Twitter: @annavetticad)
(This
column was first published in The Hindu Businessline newspaper on September 12,
2015)
Original link:
Photo caption: (From
top to bottom) Still from Avinash Arun’s Killa; Still from Haider which was shot by Pankaj Kumar; Rajkummar
Rao in Shahid
Film stills courtesy:
(1)
Killa – Avinash Arun (2) Shahid – Effective Communication
(3) Haider
–https://www.facebook.com/UTVMotionPictures
Note: These photographs were not
sourced from The Hindu Businessline
Previous
instalment of Film Fatale: “It’s Not Just Bollywood, Stupid”
No comments:
Post a Comment