City film fraternity protests FTII action

KOLKATA: The late-night crackdown by police on protesting students at Pune's Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) has evoked strong protest among the Kolkata film fraternity.
Director Buddhadeb Dasgupta felt this was leading to an " Emergency-like" situation. " Are they criminals or terrorists? I never allowed cops to tackle students' issues when I was the chairman of Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute." During his tenure at SRFTI, he, too, was gheraoed." I had punished the students but never got them arrested. I can' t understand how an institute head can do this. I urge everyone to protest against this.”
Those in power think that the arrests would stop the protest, felt actor Soumitra Chatterjee. " Since most of the students belong to quite affluent families, the authorities might be thinking that sending them to jail will prompt them to stop their protest," he said.
Actor-director Aparna Sen said the arrests were unacceptable, no matter what happened. " Principals have been gheraoed earlier too. Students will protest and they have protested in a peaceful manner thus far. It is important to find some solution," she said.
Sen said students could even be expelled if things went out of hand. " I don' t approve of students taking the law in their hands. But to get them arrested is very unfortunate.”
Director Bedabrata Pain also condemned the incident. " Standing against criminalization of dissent, I condemn the action of the government. I demand immediate release of the students and withdrawal of criminal cases. I stand with the students in their just struggle," he said.
FTII alumnus Indranil Roychowdhury said the arrests smacked of " dadagiri" by the government. " This is a method of terrorizing students. BJP has begun to show its true colours. It will be counterproductive," Roychowdhury said.
Trinamool minister and film/theatre actor/director Bratya Basu said: " It' s wrong to arrest the students. But these things are not new in the cultural space. Every party wants to appoint its own people in coveted posts. Often the appointments have no connection with the aptitude of the people concerned.”
Ateesh Chattopadhyay, president of the students' association of SRFTI, said: " We feel it is absolutely wrong to arrest students. It definitely doesn't encourage dialogue.”