Mumbai: The film fraternity have urged the Central and Maharashtra governments to provide an impetus to film-related education.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the state government will try to understand the concerns of the actors and artists, and bring together various other stakeholders in the film industry keeping in mind the interests of students from smaller towns and cities. Actor Zeeshan Ayyub, an alumnus of National School of Drama (NSD), Delhi and worked in films like “Tanu Weds Manu Returns” and “Raanjhanaa”, said the government has already has existing policies to help people from arts and culture, but it does not really help due to various reasons. “What the government can do is it can actually start providing financial aid like homes at government rate, the instruments required for performing arts at cheaper rates to help people survive in the industry,” said.
The 31-year-old actor said that with government’s aid, people will feel confident of thinking to take up arts and acting as a profession. He also said rather than conferring awards, the Cultural Ministry can put benchmarks and chose three-four people every year and offer them aids, this way new talent can be lured and retained in the profession. Actor Anil Mange, who has worked in films like “Singh is Bling” and will be next seen in Shah Rukh Khan’s “Raees”, has also urged the government to facilitate more training institutes in fine arts amidst FTII controversy.
Students at the prestigious Pune-based FTII have boycotted their classes for over four months protesting the appointment of TV actor and BJP member Gahendra Chauhan as its chairman. Mange, who is an alumnus of Whistling Woods films school here and belongs to Madhya Pradesh, said there is a need to promote film institutes in smaller cities. “I was inspired by Salman Khan who is from Indore, MP. My modest success has inspired many youngsters from Central India but there is no institutes imparting training in fine arts in that region. Students from MP have to travel to either Mumbai or Delhi for film and theatre-related training,” he said.
“The government needs to look at filmmakers-turned- educationists to start institutes in smaller towns and cities. They can also take FTII franchisees and run them in other cities beyond Pune,” he added. Actor Sohum Shah of critically-acclaimed film “Ship of Theseus” fame and has recently acted in “Talvar”, said the government should look at possibilities beyond the conventional educational system.
“For instance, we have the NSD in Delhi, on the same lines, we can have small training institutes in small cities. Today, we have no facilities what so ever for arts and culture,” he said. Meanwhile, Fadnavis said the government needs experienced people to come forward and give them suggestions, so that the necessary action can be taken. “The state government will try to understand the point of view of the artists and try to work on it by bringing together various stakeholders in the film industry. We need more people like the actors who spoke out, to come forward and put their views before the government so that the necessary steps can be taken,” the Chief Minister said.
