FTII to start new courses

New Delhi: The country's premier film school FTII has decided to conduct several short courses on film-making across the country. The first such "FTIIinitiated" 20-day course would be conducted in Guwahati this month, following which more such short courses would be organised in various cities including Delhi, FTII chairperson Gajendra Chauhan told PTI here. "Number of seats in FTII is very limited.

But the film industry needs huge numbers of professionals. This industry is no longer limited to Mumbai. It is in Delhi, southern states and other areas. So we have decided that FTII-initiated courses will be started in most of the states," he said.

There will be courses in screen-play writing, acting and cinematography. The FTII chairman said the institute would write to various state governments for fixing venues for conducting these courses. "Depending upon the response, we will move to more cities," he said. Chauhan said these short courses would help talented individuals across the country hone their skills.

Speaking about the institute, he said there is a view that the Pune-based Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) should be self-sustained and able to raise more resources. Asked whether there is any proposal to increase fees, Chauhan said a 20 per cent fee hike had been effected recently.

The hostel fee has also been increased from Rs 12,000 to Rs 14,000 per year. Chauhan, along with other FTII functionaries, had yesterday met Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu to apprise him of various issues related to the functioning of the institute.

He also met Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore, an official said. Chauhan, who had played the role of 'Yuddhisthir' in iconic tele-serial 'Mahabharata', was appointed FTII chairperson in 2015, following which there was a student strike for months. The strike ended in October last year.