Young Indian filmmaker Payal Kapadia has made India proud by winning the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival for her movie All We Imagine As Light. The filmmaker was one of the protestors as a student of the FTII (Film and Television Institute of India) in 2015 for the appointment of actor Gajendra Chauhan as the chairperson for allegedly not being well qualified enough for the post. Chauhan has now spoken about Kapadia’s feat and the situation back in 2015 when he was the FTII chairperson.
Payal Kapadia has won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival. As a former Chairperson of her film school, what would you like to say?
I would just like to say, we are all very proud of her. I’d like to congratulate her for her achievement.
She was very vocal against your appointment as the FTII’s chairperson?
Yes, the matter is in court now. Let me tell you, Jha Saab, that, there is a vast difference between being talented and being disciplined. Talent is all very fine. But being disciplined is also very important.
Do you feel the protests against your appointment at the FTII were unjust?
I do know about filmmaking although I may not be familiar with Woody Allen and Akira Kurosawa. But when I was told I was not qualified to head the FTII because I don’t know about cinema, it hurt. I am not the kind of person who would take on a job without being knowledgeable. There are so many parliamentarians who don’t even attend parliament. No one points an accusing finger at them.
Was disciplinary action taken against Ms Kapadia?
I don’t remember correctly if her name was on the chargesheet. But a large group of students had held and confined, actually hijacked, the then-FTII Director Prashant Pathrabe. He was diabetic and was held against his will for 12-14 hours.
This amounts to kidnapping?
Perhaps. I think the court proceedings are on. I have moved on in life. After my full tenure at FTII, I was the chairman of a news channel and now I am the Vice-chancellor of Pandit Lakhmi Chand State University of Performing and Visual Arts in Rohtak.
Some sections are ridiculing your appointment at the FTII and supporting Payal Kapadia?
Unka kaam hai yehi karna. I pay no attention to such loose talk. They claim I was sacked. Get your facts right before trolling. The truth is, I completed my tenure as the chairperson and then I left. I was commended by the Ministry For Information & Broadcasting for the good work that I had done. I have the letter which I am sharing with you. Many news outlets continue to claim I had resigned from the FTII. Or that I had been sacked. I neither resigned nor was I sacked. This is the narrative that was spread by those who protested against my appointment. I am proud of what I achieved at the FTII. I was not an absentee administrator. Now as an educationist, I go to Rohtak for three months at stretch. I have changed the entire educational system at the Lakshmi Chand State University.
At that time when you were appointed the chairperson of the FTII, did you feel persecuted?
Sab koi toot pade hain mujh par. Lekin yeh faisla (of being the FTII chairperson) was not mine. I think I was chosen for my capability and availability. With due respects to the people who held the post earlier, I felt I had more time to give to this job than them. And I felt those names that are said to have been superseded in my favour (Gulzar, Anupam Kher, Shyam Benegal, Adoor Gopalkrishnan) were way too eminent and busy to devote ample time to the FTII. The same is true of those who held the post after me, Shekhar Kapoor and Madhavan. The job needs a person who can take up the challenges that face the FTII.
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