Protesting the appointment of actor-turned-politician Gajendra Chauhan as chairman of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), students of the institute went on an indefinite strike on Friday.
The Information and Broadcasting Ministry’s appointment of Mr. Chauhan, a Bharatiya Janata Party member, on June 10 as FTII chairman following a reconstitution of the FTII Society has triggered a storm among the country’s film fraternity, many of whom have questioned the latter’s credentials to lead the prestigious institute.
As an actor, Mr. Chauhan is best known as ‘Yudhisthira’ in the Mahabharata TV series produced by B.R. Chopra and aired on television in 1988-90. Other than this, Mr. Chauhan has appeared in numerous soaps and several ‘B’ grade Bollywood ventures.
The Students Council sought immediate appointment of another chairman who is “qualified with a significant body of work to do justice to the institute.”
Mr. Chauhan, associated with the BJP for two decades, joined the party in 2004 and extensively campaigned in Haryana during the Lok Sabha election last year.
