Admit colour-blind people in all courses, top court directs FTII
NEW DELHI: Let arts and filmmaking have the widest canvas instead of being boxed in conformist mores, the Supreme Court emphasised on Tuesday, as it opened the doors of the prestigious Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) to the colour-blind candidates aspiring to develop keen eyes for cinematic beauty.
A bench led by justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul directed the FTII to grant admission to colour-blind candidates in all 12 courses, and abide with the sanguine principle of reasonable accommodation by helping them with assistants wherever required in the collaborative form of art.
At present, colour-blind candidates are not found suitable for admissions in six out of 12 courses at FTII. “Art is non-conformist in character. FTII is a premier Institute and we would have expected it to encourage liberal thought process and not put courses connected with films and art in any conformist boxes,” said the court in its order, reminding the Pune-institute that arts and film-making must have the widest canvas to explore and innovate.
The bench, which also comprised justice MM Sundresh, “whole-heartedly” accepted the report of a panel of experts got together by the court through an order in December to ascertain whether a person’s inability to distinguish between certain colours will have a serious impact on their eye.
The committee of seven experts included National Film Award winner film editor Akkineni Sreekar Prasad, Filmfare Award winner director and cinematographer Ravi K Chandran, well-known colourist Swapnil Patole, script supervisor Shubha Ramachandra, FTII’s head of department (editing) K Rajasekaran, ophthalmologist Jignesh Taswala, and advocate Shoeb Alam. As reported first by HT on December 1, the committee was formed to review FTII’s admission criteria with respect to colour blind candidates on a plea by Patna-based Ashutosh Kumar, who convinced the Supreme Court to consider whether he should be barred from admission in the film editing course to FTII because he is colour blind.
The panel, in its 15-page report submitted on Monday, recommended that the 20-minute colour grading module, which was cited as the chief reason by FTII to bar colur-blind candidates, can be either done away with or be made optional in the film editing course. It further recommended that colourblind candidates should be permitted to enroll for all 12 courses at FTII and any limitations can be overcome by assistant in educational and professional life.