FTII Comes in Support of SRFTI; It's Never too Late to Change

Film and Television Institute of India, Law College Road, Pune: 411004
Pune 18-06-2016

Dear Friends and Comrades in SRFTI,
We, as fellow students, feel urgency in writing to you in the light of the series of incidents unfolding in your institute.
We do not want to fix guilt on the accused nor assume that they have been unfairly accused. Just and proper processes need to be put into place to ensure that justice is delivered to all. Activating the ICC was a step in the right direction. But ever since the incidents on campus and now the maligning of the ICC makes us wonder how you perceive justice and gender vulnerabilities.
The victimization of the sexual harassment complainants from within the community is shocking for all of us. The vigorous attempt to prove that the ICC is biased without giving instances of procedural lapses appears like a witch hunt. It is horrible to see that the highly dangerous and misogynist statements like "taali ek haath se nahi bajta hai" and "SRFTI's dirty linen should not be washed in public" are made by the Chairperson of the Institute and students have not objected.
This collective attitude towards gender issues is disturbing. Many of you have felt that one complainant is provocative and too aggressive in pursuing the charges she has made. To counter this, her personal life is being flaunted to discredit her complaints. Is this what we as a community of cinema lovers want to be? Future generations of film students will look back at us and see the precedence we are setting. Those who feel vulnerable would never feel the confidence to come forward with such issues.
We love our cinema. We love our campus. Yes, this is a safe, free space for many of us. But is this what our cinema and freedom teaching us? To shut down people whose voices we do not like? How will gender justice be served at least in our higher educational institutes which are alive with major students' movements? How will sexual minorities feel safe here? We would like say that we are asking these questions to ourselves as well, here at FTII.
Our society is patriarchal and misogynist, in general and of course, we are not living on Islands. But it doesn't mean that we should let it happen where ever we live. Our whole struggle is to make the world a little better for everybody to live with equal rights. As we already said, our higher educational institutes are the places from where new student movements are raising up and that is the only ray of hope left for all of us in this fascist regime. So, as students, we have the moral responsibility to be sensitive enough to handle gender issues, at least within our own campuses. We also talk about this in the light of certain incidents that have happened on our campus as well, at various points of times in the past. In our higher educational institutes, we still don't have a proper system in place for the redressal of such complaints. FTII itself is an example where we
don't have a single female faculty in the film wing and it is high time for us to bring in gender balance.
Many of our faculty members are people we respect and with whom we share a warm camaraderie. But the faculty and administration at both SRFTI and FTII are primarily men. This makes for a somewhat skewed understanding and response to the issues around sexual harassment. As student communities we need to address this and find a language to speak about gender vulnerabilities without being dismissive of the same. Yes, both our campuses are liberal, safe spaces for many of us but that does not mean that transgressions can never occur. It is how we respond to this that counts. As of now it appears as if both our campuses wants to put a lid on any talk in this direction, to the extent of maligning both the complainants and the official members of the committee that is supposed to provide justice.
Our failure in addressing any such issue systematically within the campuses will only dilute the philosophy of these spaces and will only lead into the intervention of the state forces with dangerous code of conducts which can actually damage the soul of our liberal values in today's scenario. Having a police station inside the campuses or paramilitary forces roaming in and around won't do any good to anyone of us in any case and that can never be a solution to address gender issues.
For too long, we have ignored it systematically and encouraged cynicism about how complaints of sexual harassment are dealt with at an institutional level. We appeal to the students of SRFTI to have faith in the legally set up ICC, a system that feminists have fought for over the years to make institutions a safe space for women. To hound a fellow student is contradictory to the spirit of the progressive politics that the students of SRFTI have stood for the past so many years.
This is a historic moment for you all to take a stand that can teach many lessons to other student communities including ours. The events unfolding in SRFTI actually forced all of us to introspect. We look up to you with the hope that you show restrain and maturity at this point of time.
Love and Greetings
Students' Association, FTII Youtube- ftiistudentsbodyPgmail.com, https://www.facebook.comipages/FTII-Wisdom-Tree

Extremely happy about this primarily because it means that change is happening. People are re-thinking, re-evaluating and it's as if a small sprout has started peeping from earth at the wide blue sky. I joined SRFTI in November 2012 and this is the first time that FTII has joined a cause which started in SRFTI and expressed support and solidarity this way. What a beginning it has been with the issue being that of sexual harassment on campuses. We'll definitely make better films due to this process which has changed us all together.
Much love...

COLLECTIVE STATEMENT IN SUPPORT OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT COMPLAINANTS

Thanks to all the women who networked beautifully when the complainants including me were put under huge pressure. Please feel free to leave your names under comments if you want to endorse it. 

5th January 2016

Hello public

There has been growing number of reported complaints of women students being sexually harassed at educational institutions. And shockingly there has been a trend of social media slandering or community shaming of those who have complained. They have been targeted, called names and accused of spoiling the ‘image’ of the educational institution. We find this attitude utterly disturbing and deplorable.

We - artists, filmmakers and human right activists and concerned citizens, condemn any pressure on students who have complained against any harassment on campus. The student complainants should not fear or face any discrimination for speaking up against any kind of abuse.

We look forward to the enquiry committee that has been set up at SRFTI [Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute], Kolkata, according to the laws of the land to investigate the matter to understand the seriousness of the nature of complaints and arrive at due actions. We stand in solidarity with other women students from FTII[Film and Television Institute of India],Pune who came out and complained against sexual harassment on campus.

We also hope that the student community will be extremely sensitive in the use of language while talking about this issue and would not put any pressure overt or covert on student complainants.

Yes, it is a moment when we need to take a stand and introspect – both men and women – on why we are unwilling to engage with the complexity of established gendered power equations and structures in our everyday contexts, even so-called “liberal” ones and why we hesitate to hold accountable those who violate the idea of positive consent between adults. As people working in the world of arts and ideas it’s doubly important that we respond with sensitivity and nuance, rather than easy categorisations, to the overt and unspoken ways in which sexual politics operates in our environment.

In complete solidarity with the women students who have complained,  

1. Gargi Sen
2. Deepa Dhanraj, Filmmaker
3. Kavita Joshi
4. Leena Manimekalai, Filmmaker
5. Miriam Chandy Meenacherry
6. Nishtha Jain, Filmmaker FTII
7. Paromita Vohra ,Writer,Filmmaker
8. Saba Dewan
9. Shazia Khan
10. Surabhi Sharma ,Filmmaker FTII
11. Tangella Madhavi, Filmmaker  
12. Amal Neerad, Filmmaker
13. Rukmini Sen, Writer, Producer
14. Kani Kusruthi, Actor
15. Zeba Imam, Academician
16. Adwaita Das, Filmmaker, FTII
17. Mainak Guha, SRFTI
18. Sreecheta Das, SRFTI
19. Ishan Sil, SRFTI
20. Kunjila, SRFTI
21. Debja Ni, SRFTI
22. Subal K R, SRFTI
23. Vaibhav Hiwase, SRFTI
24. Kalhan Raina, SRFTI
25. Chetna Kaul, Director, FTII
26. Nilanjan Banerjee, Director, SRFTI
27. Kalyani Menon Sen, Feminist Learning Partnerships
28. Meena Seshu, Sangram
29. Amrita Shodhan, SOAS, University of London
30. Neha Gupta, Correspondent, Japan Broadcasting Corporation
31. Anita Ghai, Ambedkar University
32. Abha Bhaiyya, Women Rights Activist
33. Geeta Seshu, Senior Journalist
34. Urvashi Butalia
35. Shahida Murtaza
36. Marantha GT Wahlang, PhD student
37. Virginia Saldanha
38. Uma V Chandru, Researcher, Bangalore
39. Govind Kelkar
40. Juhi Jain, Feminist Activist
41. Khushboo Agarwal Editor, FTII
42. Amit Raj Director,FTII
43. Irene Dhar Malik, Film Editor FTII
44. Kavita Pai, Filmmaker,FTII
45. Batul Mukhtiar Filmmaker,FTII
46. Jabeen Merchant,Editor,FTII
47. Reema Borah, Director,FTII
48. Jyoti Kapoor, Writer, FTII
49. Pinky Bramha Choudhary, Filmmaker
50. Shobit Jain, Filmmaker ,FTII
51. Arjuna Raja
52. Onirban ,Director,Producer
53. Myna Mukherjee, Cultural Curater & Producer
54. Simon Frenay, Actor
55. Ashish Bhisht, Actor
56. Shanthi Mohan,Cinematographer
57. Aswathy Raveendran, Researcher,PhD
58. Arshia Malik, Writer,Academician.
59. Aarti Tikoo Singh, Sr.Journalist TOI
60. Aswini Malik, Writer,Director,Academician.,FTII
61. Himanshu Srivastava, Researcher Science Education
62. Vasudha Mohanka, Doctoral Scholar
63. Ayesha Kidwai
64. Sumi Krishna
65. Teena Gill
66. Ritambhara Mehta
67. Anshu Jain
68. Rituparna Borah
69. Nazariya, A Queer Feminist Resource Group
70. K.C. Bindu, Assistant Professor, Gender Studies, Ambedkar University, Delhi
71. Rajashri Dasgupta
72. Pujita Guha
73. Zalina Gamat Director,FTII
74. Fatema Kagalwala, Editor, FTII
75. Vatsala
76. Inji Pennu, Journalist, Global Voices
77. Promona Sengupta
78. Bedatri Dutta Choudhury
79. Smriti Nevatia Filmmaker
80. Dr. Manasi Palshikar, Writer, FTII
81. Manish J. Tipu, Music Composer,Singer
82. Gouri Patwardhan Editor, Director FTII
83. Bela Negi, Director FTII
84. Geetika Tyagi Actor.
85. Pooja Sharma Cinematographer FTII
86. Manjushree Abhinav Filmmaker FTII
87. Shobha SV,Media Professional
88. Ajita Nair ,Filmmaker
89. Gagan Judge ,Filmmaker
90. Manjushree Abhinav, Director FTII
91. Arun Kumar ,Social Development Professional Mumbai
92. Arundhati Hazarika,Social Developement Professional London
93. Deepshikha Nainani, Media Professional
94. Samrat Mukherjee ,Journalist
95. Sandali Thakur, Academician
96. Satyen K Bordoloi Writer
97. Ruchika Oberoi ,Writer,Director FTII
98. Bindhulakshmi P, TISS
99. Asha Achutan, TISS
100. Smita Dutta
101. Sreyoshi Sen
102. Shruti Anindita Verma, Filmmaker
103. Saswati Ghosh, Academic and activist, Kolkata
104. Preethi Krishnan
105. Neeraj Malik
106. Nisha Susan, Writer
107. Srijani Dey, SRFTI
108. Sudipto Basu
109. Darshana Mini, PhD Student, University of Southern California
110. Sridala Swami, Writer, FTII 
111. Suhel Banerjee
112. Rehna Khalid 
113. Jina Dcruz 
114. Dhrupadi Ghosh, Researcher, Jamia Millia Islamia
115. Subrata Sinha 
116. Tania Mukhopadhyay, Cinematographer, SRFTI 
117. Deborah Dutta, Researcher, Science Education
118. Gurinder Singh, PhD Student, Mumbai
119.  Aisha Kawalkar, Researcher, Science Education
120. Subeesh M P, Senior Research Fellow, National Institute of Oceanography
121. Dr. Rohan Deb Roy, Lecturer, University of Reading, UK
122. Dr. Shinjini Das, Research Fellow, University of Cambridge
123. Dipanjan Sinha, Journalist, Midday
124. Shriya Bandopadhyay, PhD student, JNU
     

PITFB: When Kozhikode Joined FTII in its Protest

On 17th June 2015 a group of youngsters who joined hands through social media organized a protest meeting in solidarity with FTII (Film and Television Institute of India) at Mananchira. I went. Back in Kolkata SRFTI (Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute of India) had already held protest meetings. It was in solidarity with FTII and also against the changes in syllabus and in particular to save the playback project for the junior batches. FTII had protested against the appointment of Mr. Gajendra Chauhan as its Chairperson. Mr. Chauhan's only claim for eligibility for the post seemed to be that he played Yudhishtir in Mahabharata series. Apart from this he was also busy being an active Narendra Modi supporter and making promotional videos? for the P.M. Clearly, the aim was to saffronize the school. We couldn't let that happen. A huge majority of people in these two film schools were ones who had cinema as their passion. Most of us believed in freedom of expression and independent film making. We respected art. We hated propaganda.

When i saw my classmates and fellow film mates sing and shout in protest i felt restless at home, Kozhikode. The next day SRFTI ans marched to JU (Jadavpur University) and students there too joined. Eminent film makers from the city who were also alumni of FTII joined the rally. I couldn't sleep. The next day i saw on social media that a group of people were organizing a similar protest in Mananchira and that another one of the same kind was going to be held at Kochi. I felt proud. I liked it also because these were not film students, but only people who genuinely understood how serious the matter was and felt the need to resist it.

Sky was overcast even at 3:45 p.m. A small group of people were sticking signs on a cloth which was wrapped around the base of statue of S.K Pottekkad.There were some familiar faces.

By the time i had a coffee and two teas and came back at 5 p.m Shahabaz Aman, renowned composer and ghazal singer was there. We circled the park singing, raising slogans against fascism and asking Gajendra Chauhan to 'go back'. After reaching S.K again several people spoke of the need to resist saffronization of art, history etc across the country. Among them were film makers like Gopal Menon and Anil Kumar. Mr. Anil Kumar spoke of how farcical it was that Mr Chauhan 'assured' that his politics wouldn't be propagated while he was chairperson. He said that his appointment itself meant his politics and was a sign of how it was going to be spread on campus. Shahabaz Aman sang 'Zammilooni', a song from the film 'Annayum Rasoolum'. He said that he chose it because of its director Rajiv Ravi, acclaimed cinematographer and director who had earlier expressed solidarity with the strike at FTII.

Shahabaz Aman sings Zammilooni

It rained intermittently. People sang and spoke through it. It felt good.

I am yet to arrange artists for my playback (Play it the F**k Back or PITFB) project. This is more important as of now. Politics is inseparable from art and this has to be made clear in all ways possible. All art was political and that was why artists had to be responsible. We shall not let it be engulfed by Sangh Parivar goons. June was approaching its end. The next day, Vai, my classmate was going to arrive. I was excited and equally scared. I was a terrible host and the house was a mess.

Ragging in SRFTI: The sad state of film schools

This November its going to be a year since I joined the institute. What happened here before any learning of cinema was ragging. I had written about it here, in Malayalam. Now the new batch is going to come and they are already being ragged and I am sure they will be in future also. I believe ragging is a blatant violation of human rights and is a crime. I am going to paraphrase the article in English here.

Classes started on 26th November 2012. There was a welcoming ceremony and a dinner by the institute. Soon after the dinner started ragging. The seniors were seated in a dark corner which now all of us know is the open air theatre aka OAT and were asking us to do various acts. Ragging is a process in which seniors of an educational institution asks the juniors there to perform acts and abuse them according to their whims. In the OAT I was asked to say 'action' aloud standing on the benches, was abused and was asked to go the hostel. In the hostel is the terrace where the elaborate and extended version of ragging was happening. The terrace which I call the terrace is called the 'ragging terrace' by all due to this reason. There ragging would continue till 6 or 7 in the morning or later. I didn't go there the first day. I had no intention to on any of the days which followed.

During those days the girls were allotted a quarter in the staff block. I noticed that the next night there were two day scholars also staying there. When I asked them why that was they said that the seniors had told them that they had to stay back for ragging. I found all this very absurd and silly. I didn't go that night either. But soon came my batchmates asking me to go get ragged. They said the seniors had said that unless the whole of our batch was present in the terrace they would not cease ragging. My bathcmates' tone was soon shifting from desperate to impatient to demanding to arrogant. One of them asked me why it was such a huge problem for me when all others were ready to be ragged. After half an hour of this and more bullshit I said I shall show my face for five minutes and return.

It was too cold in the terrace. I couldn't talk properly because my teeth were chattering so. There a lot of people were watching the fun from floors above. I was texting and talking to my friend and was asked to switch my phone off. When I refused to do this they started showering more abuses on me than before. One of them came very close to me and said that this would have serious consequences. I no longer could make out anything which was being said because nobody completed any of their sentences. It was all threatenings which would be overlapped with swear words.

Meanwhile others were being questioned on the 'hot chair', being asked to hold the boom rod which was a mop, to roll the camera (a fire extinguisher) etc.

I walked out of there.

That was the beginning of it all.

The whole of that night my bathcmates were sent to D quarters in intervals of five minutes where I was trying to sleep. The seniors were sending the message that if I refused to go back and get ragged there would be serious consequences.

I refused to go. My own batchmates started holding me responsible for the fact that they were getting ragged mercilessly. During those days nobody would talk to me. I called the registrar and the HOD of the department of Direction and Screenplay Writing to report ragging. No action was taken. The next day a group of faculty and the registrar came to our class to ask if our batch was facing any problems. A lot of people said they were. I myself was surprised. Then a register with names and photos of seniors was given to us to identify the raggers. With the names of five people I could recognise I gave a complaint. Action was taken. 8 students were suspended and expelled from hostel temporarily. An enquiry committee was set up and we were all asked to testify. As a result of that two were permanently suspended from hostel. Strict warning was given to the rest. This report came out in the media. This too they said was done by me when in reality I had no clue who wrote it. Nobody had contacted me while doing so.

When all this was going on I was constantly being asked to withdraw my complaint by a lot of seniors. This included people who weren't in campus who called up my sister, Malayalis who hadn't been to campus in a long time and ex students. Some of them said that I wouldn't be allowed to work in the 'industry' (Malalam film-, I gather) after I pass out. Two seniors had a long talk with me trying to convince me that I was being made a pawn in the hands of the administration which was essentially anti-student in nature. They said that they would go on a strike which would bring the academic life to a stand still and me and my batchmates would lose a year or two. When all this failed I was ostracized along with my batch. In the Christmas party that happened a notice was put up inviting all batches from 8-10th, clearly giving out the message that us, the 11th batch was not invited. My own batchmates were very hostile to me. They held me responsible for this seclusion.

A year has passed and there still are people who consider me a black sheep. I don't really care. But this situation is scary. The campus is filled with people who are insensitive about any kind of issues. They go by the band wagon. If ragging has been happening for 17 years they will support it too. Why should anything change? Nobody cares about what is just and unjust. Nobody says a word about the casteism in campus. When students of FTII were attacked by ABVP for having invited Kabir Kala Manch to perform in campus along with the screening of Patwardhan's Jai Bhim Comrade two members of the student body came to me asking to write a letter of solidarity. They had no clue with what they were expressing solidarity. When I said that I couldn't write it on their behalf unless they agreed to the things I was writing they said mockingly, 'we agree to it all'.

Yes, that is the problem. They agree to it all. A professor says to a dark complexioned student, we will do a 'black balance' on you. The joke is that the real process is called 'white balancing'. Nobody says anything. On the contrary everyone laughs. Another says 'We have a joke in the department. During shoot we audiographers are treated like SC/ST, OBC people'. Are we serious?

Looks like they are.

I still get asked questions like 'if you were to go back in time would you have done what you did during ragging?' 'Do you still think ragging is bad?'

For the nth time, yes, yes and yes. Because

Say we forget that ragging is a punishable offense. It will be worthwhile to think why it has so many supporters in film schools. How is it that this is being followed like a ritual among a group of supposedly progressive aspiring film makers? The favourite argument of the supporters of this crime is that it is the best way to know the juniors. But this is a sadistic argument. Knowing people is not done by forcibly making them do things. The relationship between juniors and seniors is not that of a circus master and the animal they are training. Nothing gives a group of people authenticity just because they arrived in that space earlier than the others.

Then there is this argument that the raggers suffer from split personality syndrome. They are awfully mean and cruel only during ragging. After that they are good sould who offer you sweaters and tea for the cold. This reminds me of something my friend told about women who undergo domestic violence. Most of them say about their husbands 'Otherwise he is so loving'. Is this 'otherwise-love' any form of love at all? My then room mate was asked to say some swear words in the movie Gangs of Wasseypur. I don't consider this any less than verbal sexual assault. I don't think there is anything wrong in swearing. I swear myself. But I don't forcefully make people gather in a place and make them listen to me swear. Nor do I force people to swear. I have heard of such things happening only in bed. Or in porn. When she started crying she was told to consider this as a training for editing scenes with explicit content. In that case they could very well have asked her to sleep with them considering it all as training, couldn't they.

The acts you are made to do during ragging come in handy later on is another argument. For an hour or more you are asked to stand with the broom as the boom rod and the fire extinguisher as the camera etc. Is it to learn cinema this way that students write a very tough entrance exam, clear it, get shortlisted from thousands of candidates and get selected in a government funded film school? I have never seen any ragger inquiring about the physical fitness of one being ragged. What if someone has a problem standing for more than half an hour? What if they have some fracture in their arms? If something happens to the students while being ragged will they be responsible to the parents who sent them there trusting the institute? Will they be answerable for a human life?

Another way of threatening is by saying that you will suffer in the 'industry' if you don't co operate with ragging. I find this rather silly. Their argument that you will be left out in campus without support from anybody is wrong. People go through hell during each one of the productions. Whether or not they were ragged. Honestly it is only about your film making skills rather than any ragging session you have been through. And the industry they are talking about is shitty to begin with. You go out as a pass out from the institute to be scorned and scorned alone. Everybody struggles. Some make their way out, some don't. That's norm which has not been broken because of the nature of this undemocratic place. Doesn't depend of your film institute history, uh uh.

The support of faculty and other authorities is quite obvious. Some of the professors and staff give you tips for being ragged. Such and such shops sell cigarettes at these hours. So you might go there when they seniors ask you to. I entered the bad books of very many professors due to my take on ragging. That is alright. Whenever there is some change happening, whenever norm was questioned this has happened. There is no easy way out of it. Nero's party had guests.

Some of the faculty indirectly asked me to be happy that we were not being harmed physically. This is because most of them are pass outs from FTII where ragging meant getting beaten up. So? Rules were imposed for a reason. 'Sati' existed here. It was banned for a reason. But while it was happening that too had supporters.

The funniest thing I heard was said by a Malayali batchmate. He said that even though he was devastated by ragging he liked it because having read film school veterans like Bina Paul and Rasool Pookkutty's experiences in film school and ragging he so wanted to experience it.

But later when I thought of it, I realized that its quite possible. FTII is the dream of most of the aspiring film makers in the country. For Malayalis it is a famous nostalgia.

There has been a campaign that ragging is an indispensable part of film school life. There has been deliberate attempts to glorify it by recounting of stories both made-up and real. A nostalgia which can be stated along with canteen, freshers day etc. But ragging is not something to be glorified thus. This is precisely what protects it. It is just a form of torture which has the support of many. That doesn't make it right. Human beings exercising power on other human beings for no valid reason is a form of exploitation no matter what.

But I am slightly happy about some of the changes that have happened. There is an addition in the website of the institute like this. 

In it are the following contents. 

I am happy that I too had a small role to play in it.

Even though my complaint had just five names 8 students were suspended initially. Which means that there were others who even though were using me as a cover protested against it. I find it a relief. Because in places like this it is very hard to safeguard your opinion. More often than not it gets washed away in a deluge of bullshit that your classmates and professors bring with them.

Any day, with any student who protests against ragging, I will be there.