Veteran actor Anupam Kher has replaced Gajendra Chauhan as the new chairman of Film And Television Institute Of India (FTII). Gajendra, who is known to play Yudhisthira in the TV serial Mahabharata, was appointed as the chairman of the Pune-based institute’s governing council in 2015. However, his appointment was severely criticized by the students of FTII. They felt that Chauhan lacked the vision to head a prestigious institution like FTII.
It was surprising to see that despite the protests, the BJP government didn’t sack Chauhan till March 2017.
At that time, Anupam had voiced his opinions against Gajendra as he said, “I personally feel that the FTII represents a certain art form. It does certainly need a person who has a great body of work, which means he is supposed to know world cinema as well as the present state of cinema, like editing. But certainly FTII needs somebody who is much more qualified than whatever Ganjendraji’s qualifications are coming across.” He added, “I certainly do not think Gajendraji is qualified as a producer, director or actor.”
Talking about Anupam’s body of work, he has appeared in over 500 films. He was also the chairman of the Central Board of Film Certification and the National School of Drama. He was conferred with Padma Shri in 2004 and the Padma Bhushan in 2016.
