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Film personalities pledge support to striking students of Kerala film institute
A section of students and employees have been seeking the ouster of K R Narayanan National Institute of Visual Science and Arts director Shankar Mohan alleging caste bias and other charges
The ongoing protest in Kerala by a section of students and employees seeking the ouster of K R Narayanan National Institute of Visual Science and Arts (Krnnivsa) director Shankar Mohan alleging caste bias and other charges has got louder after many film personalities pledged support to them.
The students staged a protest at the venue of the ongoing International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) in the state Capital Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday and many artists and prominent people joined them. They said they have been on an indefinite strike for more than 10 days and forced to take their protest to the festival venue to highlight their woes.
Krnnivsa is an autonomous institute established by the Kerala government in Kottayam to impart training in film and audio visual technology and famous film-maker Adoor Gopalakrishnan is the chairman of the institute. The protestors alleged that they were forced to hit the streets after “the director crossed all limits.” Charges against him include caste bias, forcing sanitation workers and others to do domestic works in his official bungalow and arrogant behaviour, they alleged.
Chairman of the Student Council, Sreedev Suprakash said the trouble at the institute began during the Covid-19 lockdown after the director restructured three- year PG diploma course to one year and made many changes in the curriculum.
“He was really biased against Dalit students and when we protested four students were suspended. Though they were taken back later staff members started a protest against his dictatorial decisions,” he said.
At the IFFK venue, filmmakers Kamal, Ashiq Abu, Mahesh Narayanan, music composer Biijbal, actor Sajitha Madathil and many others pledged solidarity with the protesting students. “We cannot allow this to happen when the state is surging ahead with progressive values and social renaissance,” said Kamal. “We have built a world class institute, we should not allow it to become a symbol of shame,” said director Joe Baby.
The state’s higher education minister R Bindu has sought a report from the higher education director on Wednesday. Director of the institute Shankar Mohan was not available for his comments. But chairman Adoor Gopalakrishnan said all problems started when the director started enforcing discipline on the campus. But students later alleged that Gopalakrishnan was shielding the director.
