[Mumbai]Heartthrob Ranbir Kapoor Jumps Into FTII Row Against Yudhisthira .Kapoor Family Is Well Known Congress Sympathizer.
Bollywood star Ranbir Kapoor is the latest celebrity to come out in support of FTII students, who are agitating against the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan as chairman of the premier institute.
In a black and white video, posted by FTII students body on YouTube, Ranbir, 32, makes a plea to the authorities to pay heed to the students’ demands, initiate a dialogue with them and address their grievances.
Calling FTII the breeding place of “many filmmakers, cinematographers, editors, award winning personalities”, Ranbir says, “I think it gives an opportunity to a person without any film connection who come from various parts of the country. I think people look at a graduate from FTII with so much respect… and hearing about all the things that are happening now, the appointing of a new chairman which has gone against the students’ wishes.
He said “I think it is only fair that students deserve a fair hearing of what they want, all they require is an aspirational figure to look up to somebody with a large body of work, (if) not large body of work but a body of work that they can aspire or they can be inspired from,” Ranbir says in the video.
Chauhan, best known for playing Yudhisthira on TV epic “Mahabharata”, took over as the chairman of the Pune-based institute’s governing council last month. His appointment was heavily criticised by current and former students of Film and Television Institute of India.
FTII students have been boycotting classes, abandoning academic work in protest against the appointment of Chauhan, who they allege lacks “stature and vision” to head the institution.