ANUPAM KHER APPOINTED NEW FTII CHIEF
SUCCEEDS GAJENDRA CHAUHAN, STUDENTS POINT OUT CONFLICT OF INTEREST
Veteran Bollywood actor Anupam Kher was on Wednesday named chairperson of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune, after his predecessor Gajendra Chauhan’s tenure ended in March.
The 62-year-old actor, who has worked in more than 500 films and over 100 plays in the past three decades, was conferred the Padma Shri in 2004 and the Padma Bhushan in 2016.
Speaking to HT, Kher said, “I feel a sense of responsibility… I can only take my experience of being an Indian and an international actor for 45 years and walk with the students, and not go there with the tag of being somebody who is known. I want to make a difference by giving them a different platform to do innovative things. It’s a great sense of achievement to be the chairman of the institute where you did your training. I spent six months at the institute in 1978.”
“I’m not going with the baggage of being Anupam Kher, but will utilise my experience as a theatre artist, teacher and a motivation speaker to be a friend and father figure to students,” he said.
Kher takes over after a tumultuous phase. In 2015, FTII saw a 139-day strike by students, who had termed Chauhan’s appointment “arbitrary” and “political” as he was a BJP member.
On Wednesday, students called the appointment of Kher as “crazy” and “another joke”.
“How can Kher head FTII when he is running a private acting school?” Harishankar Nachimuthu, who headed one of the longest strikes in the premier film institute’s history to oppose Chauhan’s appointment, said. He was referring to Kher’s Actor Prepares institute.
Nachimuthu said the students at FTII don’t see any difference between Chauhan and Kher, who is known to be to be a vocal supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. His wife Kirron Kher is a BJP legislator from Chandigarh. “We expected this from the government,” Nachimuthu said.
Another student and FTII students’ association general secretary, Rohit Kumar, said, as an actor, Kher has highest credentials. “The problem is his views.”
Former chairperson Chauhan, however, said: “Given the kind of person Kher is, I think he will do really well... To head an institute like FTII, one doesn’t have to be just an actor or director, but a good administrator.”
He also took to Twitter and wrote, “I hv not been axed. I completed my tenure in Mar 2017. Some channels are doing wrong reporting (sic).”