After taking charge as the chairman of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Anupam Kher has made a move to harness good relations between the students and administration, while deciding to agree to the demands of the 2016 batch for the dialogue exercise. Following this, students withdrew their two-week-old boycott on the meetings related to dialogue exercise.
“Our demands for three days of eight-hour shifts required to shoot the dialogue exercise, and another day for set up, lighting and props have been agreed upon by the authorities. And, so we have decided to take back the protest and give our best to the exercise,” said Ramesh Holbole, a FTII student of the 2016 batch.
The controversy began when the FTII academic council decided to revise the schedule for dialogue exercise and allow students for two days of 12-hour shifts for shoot. That was later changed to three days of 12-hour shifts for the entire exercise, including lighting and propping.
The entire exercise was to be completed within this period, a clause that the students denied to accept, and continued their agitation. This continued even after the 2017 batch stepped down it’s solidarity boycott last week.
As per an official at FTII, the directions of making changes came directly from the newly-appointed chairman. “After the chairman asked us to be more considerate towards the children as they are still in the learning phase, the council decided to consider their demands and give them three days of eight-hour shifts for shoot and another day for lighting. Although, the changes made has added extra days to the overall schedule, but at the core, our aim is to do as much as possible for our students, and give them the best opportunities,” Amit Tyagi, dean of film, FTII told HT .
{{/usCountry}}As per an official at FTII, the directions of making changes came directly from the newly-appointed chairman. “After the chairman asked us to be more considerate towards the children as they are still in the learning phase, the council decided to consider their demands and give them three days of eight-hour shifts for shoot and another day for lighting. Although, the changes made has added extra days to the overall schedule, but at the core, our aim is to do as much as possible for our students, and give them the best opportunities,” Amit Tyagi, dean of film, FTII told HT .
{{/usCountry}}“The truth is that, in their initial years in the industry, they might not be able to get this kind of time, and so we wanted them to be prepared for everything. But, we don’t want to deprive them of learning and so the decision was taken,” he added.
As per the current schedule, the exercise needs to be completed by January 12. Following this, the 10 teams of students will be assessed on January 20. “The institute has also agreed on providing the manpower for detailed setup, like art direction. They have given us five people for art direction,” added Holbole.