Students are not criminals; they should be engaged in dialogue, veteran award-winning filmmaker Shyam Benegal said on Monday.
He also questioned the students’ rage over Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) chairman Gajendra Chauhan’s appointment.
Benegal, who was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an International Film Festival of India event in Panaji, said political ideology has no role to play in the discharge of duties of the chairman of FTII. The International Film Festival of India runs until November 30 in Goa.
“The fact is students are students ... they are not criminals. They are not crooks. They are a not antinational,” Benegal said.
“ ... they may be unhappy. They may think that things are not quite correct, but the fact is that [it is] for those in charge to deal with them in a way which makes sense. My own opinion is that you have to meet the students and talk to them,” Benegal said.
Benegal is the recipient of the Padma Bhushan award, the Dadasaheb Phalke award and has received Indian National Awards for best feature film on six occasions.
FTII students staged a 139-day strike from June 12 this year to protest the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan as the institute’s chairman, claiming he was unfit for the position.
After the appointing authority, the union ministry for information and broadcasting, did not cancel Chauhan’s appointment, the students withdrew the strike on October 29, but insisted that their protests would continue.
Benegal also questioned the accusation that political ideology plays a role in running the functioning of the Institute.
