Hindustan Times ST (Jaipur) - Hindustan Times (Jaipur) - City
WHAT’S THE CONFLICT HERE, ASKS ANUPAM
The experience from his own acting school will help FTII, Anupam Kher tells naysayers
Actor Anupam Kher is busy replying to the congratulatory messages that have been pouring in ever since he was declared the newly appointed chairman of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, on Wednesday. However, there are some messages that have called his appointment a “joke”, because Kher runs a private acting school, called Actor Prepares. Reacting to this, Kher tells us, “If I was in the cement business, why would they appoint me as the FTII chairman? I’m an active actor, not someone who’s retired and has nothing to do, so, I’ve been made chairman. I’m as busy in India as I’m busy abroad.” To students who’ve voiced their displeasure on the perceived conflict of interest, Kher responds, “What’s the conflict here? That I’d tell people who come to FTII that, ‘Please go and join my acting school’? My school is doing very well in any case, because I’ve put in 14 years of hard work to build it. It’s an asset for FTII — the experience that I’ve gathered from there will come in handy [here].” Asked if he has any new strategies planned for FTII, Kher, who was a student there 39 years ago, says, “I’m not going there with pre-conceived notions. I want to walk with today’s generation rather than tell them how to walk.” A two-time National Award winner, Kher has acted in more than 500 films, and he says that there’s a lot to talk about with the students, and that his intentions are honest. “I am a doer. It’s not that chalo charity ke liye baat karte hain, do saal nikal jayenge. Mere liye yeh do saal bahut kuch karne ko hain. And I will do it. I’m an educationist. I’m much better as a teacher than as an actor,” he says. Prodded further on what he intends to share with the students, Kher says, “It’s not only my achievements that I’ll share with them, but also what I went through for those three years when I didn’t have work. What was my attitude, my mindset? It’s not that I didn’t feel the blow or didn’t get completely depressed. I’ve honed my skills of teaching in the past so many years, and that’s going to help me.”