Liberating the frogs

Management people say that the only thing constant in this universe is change. But whenever one talks of bringing about a change in any organisation, it ruffles a few feathers. 

Of late, I have been reading a lot in newspapers and on the Internet about the wave of changes being proposed at the Film & Television Institute of India — choice-based credit system and a vision of FTII as an institute of excellence. With the institute at the centre and its core specialisations as the backbone, there will be different schools offering highly specialised inputs of varying durations. This will provide opportunity to students to move from one school to another to study what they want. I presuppose that all schools will have autonomy under the umbrella of FTII and will have the freedom to introduce new courses that will contribute to future needs. However, suggestions to have departments instead of schools would cut the possibilities of autonomy and growth. 

As a former student and faculty, I have seen politics encroaching upon education in FTII campus. There are conflicts among different departments and between the two wings — film and television. These conflicts are not heard but they generate an undercurrent leading to insecurity among students. 

Typically, students of techno-art — camera, sound and editing — with daily experiences of working with equipment, find the students of direction a little lost when it comes to commanding the unit. The reason for this could be that, on an average, a direction student spends very little time shooting exercises or projects. Moreover, a direction student is made to do the entire pre-production work. If he has a team comprising a producer and a writer to start with, and then a cameraperson, sound designer, editor and production designer later, his workload will reduce many fold. I visualise that the new approach will be a more collaborative one and all exercises and projects from the very first year will be developed and executed by a team.

Further, anyone associated with this field understands the importance of a script. It is a known fact that everyone cannot be a writer even if one has a wonderful idea for a film. Majority of directors work with scriptwriters. But in FTII, it is compulsory for direction students to write their own scripts. It is fine till the stage when one is learning the fundamentals of scriptwriting, but then why push this practice further? Why not offer the experience to the direction students to collaborate with students of scriptwriting to develop scripts? However, this does not mean that if a direction student wants to write his own script he will be denied the opportunity. In fact, it will earn him additional credits.

The direction department is imparting inputs in three areas — screen studies, scriptwriting and direction. Way back, till late 70s, scriptwriting was an independent three-year course. In many universities, screen studies and film theories are taught in two-year masters programmes. Since students here are burdened with three highly specialised subjects, they do not find time to develop their projects and this contributes to delays in project completion.

With the credit-based system, I think, a student will have flexibility to specialise in a subject of his choice and will also have options to take lessons from all allied subjects. At the same time this system will allow exchange of students and faculty from different organisations.

There are many misgivings about the credit system. To me, the credit system in FTII will liberate students and will offer them facilities to acquire multiple skills. For a direction student specialising in non-fiction, this system will be a blessing. Everyone knows that non-fiction films do not have much of a budget. Hiring services of crew members creates a dent in the budget. The credit-based system will allow a student to take up courses from sound, camera and editing departments to equip himself to meet future requirements. Similarly, students from other specialisations can also pick up credits (after meeting the  prerequisites) from other disciplines of their interest. I cannot understand how this can be looked at as dilution of inputs.

Any institute that strives to be an institute of excellence like FTII must have top-notch faculty — teachers who have considerable work experience, passion for sharing knowledge with students and excellent communication skills. Teachers should mentor students to build on their previous learning by introducing new concepts rather than pushing them to change their thinking. 

To get recognition as an institute of excellence, there are prescribed rules and one of them is regular evaluation of both students and teachers. FTII must first adopt these rules before approaching the government to get recognition for FTII as an institute of excellence. I say this because the prevailing culture in the campus is such that assessment of any kind is considered an encroachment on freedom of art and expression.

Within the campus, the film wing has always looked down upon the television wing. Even the I&B ministry has given half-hearted treatment to the TV wing. Even though the TV industry generates huge work opportunities and revenue, the television wing has not been encouraged to develop more courses.

The past is, well, truly past. What do I see when implied that the new vision will liberate FTII from all past differences? There will be no two wings; all teachers will impart education in what they can teach best. Professionals and scholars can be invited for a semester to provide highly specialised inputs. Students will have the freedom to study what they want to and under the teacher of their choice. I understand that the faculty has supported this vision and would work towards realising this new approach. I hope the I&B ministry will embrace this new vision as soon as possible and will encourage the faculty to make FTII a true institute of excellence. 

A friend, who is an FTII graduate and had been a dean for some years, used to say that people in FTII are like frogs in a pond; for them the pond is the whole world. When this new approach is implemented, the world will become the space to swim for us — the frogs. 

The author is FTII alumni and former HoD, Editing