Vidya Balan Joins FTII Protest; Sends Letter To Prez

The FTII students' strike against the appointment of BJP MP Gajendra Chauhan as the Chairman keeps intensifying. Just a while ago, we told you how a press meet is being conducted to address the controversy (Narendra Modi and Arun Jaitley, what on earth is happening, September 10).

The update from the press meet is that Vidya Balan has joined the students' strike by signing their letter, which has been addressed to the President Pranab Mukherjee, PM Narendra Modi and I&B minister Arun Jaitley. This comes as a strong move considering the actress is a member of the FTII advisory committee.

Rajkummar Rao too has joined the petition.

Former FTII Chairman Adoor Gopalakrishnan was vocal about his support to the students' outrage against Chauhan's appointment. He openly stated that Chauhan is not qualified for the esteemed post. He also added, "Students are being coloured as criminals when their demands are fair."

Documentary filmmaker Anand Patwardhan too called the appointment a blatant "saffronisation."



Dibakar Banerjee minced no words as he said, "FTII students are the only ones who have stood up against the saffronisation. A complete lack of answers has led to the harassment of students." He even hit out at the industry as he stated, "I see reluctance in the industry to say what is wrong."



FTII alumnus Hansal Mehta said, "No one raised a question on Mukesh Khanna's appointment in CFSI (Children's Film Society, India). That was unfair too."

The episode has also brought to light certain uncomfortable facts. As a part of their protest, the students used the RTI Act to find how the institute spends Rs. 12 lakh on each student (as they claim). The students said that the breakdown provided to them was "funny".

The letter with the signatures of the 192 petitioners (which includes eminent celebrities, National Award winners and Padma Shri awardees) has already been sent to the President. Patwardhan concluded, "We'll evaluate our next move depending on what the Government does after our letter."

It also emerged during the meet that besides Rajkumar Hirani, eminent filmmaker Jahnu Barua was also considered for Gajendra's post (Raju Hirani turns down FTII post, September 9).

Last heard, the petitioners are considering renouncing their national honours if the Government does not take required action after the letter.