BJP’s Yudhisthira unwelcome in Film and Television Institute of India

Mr Chauhan, who played Yudhisthira in B.R. Chopra’s popular tele adaptation of the Mahabharata, is also a member of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and replaces director Saeed Mirza, whose term ended in March, 2014. Previous chairpersons include Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Girish Karnad, Shyam Benegal and U.R. Ananthamurthy.

Regular classes too at the institute witnessed disruption due to a boycott on Friday. With beats of drums, a group of students shouted slogans like. “Eisenstein Pudovkin, We Shall Fight We Shall Win,” was a popular slogan against the move. Sergei Eisenstein (1898-1948) was Soviet Russian film director and Vsevolod Pudovkin (1893- 1953) was again, a famed Soviet-era filmmaker and actor.

Students spoke out against the new chairman’s appointment, stressing that the institute was in the need of someone “more knowledgeable”. “We have nothing personal against Mr Chauhan. (But) if you are selecting somebody to head the governing council, he must understands our issues,” direction student Harishankar Nachimuthu, president of the students’ body, was quoted as saying by a news website.

Satchit Paulose, part of the students’ council told DC the protest was aimed at keeping FTII free of influence. “FTII has had stellar personalities as our chairpersons. Chauhan’s appointment doesn’t make any sense.”

Mr Chauhan, however, remains unfazed. “Who are these people to question my qualifications? The government must have found me capable of the post and therefore has appointed me,” he was quoted as saying by website scroll.in.