PUNE: Students of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) are set to stage a "peaceful protest" at the institute on Thursday when actor Gajendra Chauhan arrives to take charge as chairman of the FTII Society. On the other hand, more than 150 staff members are expected to accord a welcome to Chauhan and 25 other Society members.

While the students are agitated over what they term as "irresponsible behaviour" and "ignorance" of the ministry of information and broadcasting (I&B), the FTII administration has hired additional workers to clean up the premises and whitewash the paintings and slogans which the students had come up with to voice their protest.

A staff member at the institute said Chauhan has conveyed to the administration that he wants to meet the students and talk to them. When TOI contacted Chauhan on Wednesday evening, he said he was busy shooting for a show and would talk later.

Chauhan will hold a meeting with the Society members at the campus on Thursday. This will be the first meeting after the Society members were appointed on June 9 last year. A 14-member governing council will be elected during the Society meeting, following which the academic council and finance committee will be formed.

"We will protest with peaceful sloganeering," a third-year student at the institute said. "Our core demand was that the newly-appointed society be put in abeyance. We wanted that proper criteria and procedure be put in place to appoint the society members. However, things remain the same. The administration can remove all our graffiti but we will continue to protest." A Facebook page created by the students has labelled Thursday's meeting as 'Besharam' (shameless).

The FTII students' strike, which began in June, went on for 139 days. The students said the strike was in protest against Chauhan's appointment and the "saffronization" of the institute. They were also protesting against the appointments on the FTII Society of actor Rahul Solapurkar, filmmaker Anagha Ghaisas, Assamese actor Pranjal Saikia (all three having strong links with the RSS), Narendra Pathak, former-ABVP president from Thane, and Shailesh Gupta, an FTII alumnus who had made a film on Narendra Modi. Despite several rounds of talks with the I&B ministry officials, the issue had remained unresolved.

"We called off our strike after 139 days since our voice was not heard even though we garnered support from students, teachers, artists, filmmakers and others. We were targeted at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa and continue to be cornered by the FTII administration," said another student.

Meanwhile, the Deccan Gymkhana police have served a notice to the 17 students who were earlier booked for allegedly gheraoing FTII director Prashant Pathrabe. The students have been told to refrain from any protest.



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