Oscar-winning sound engineer Resul Pookutty took to Instagram to launch a campaign for the FTII to Withdraw cases against its students, including Payal Kapdia. Grand Prix winner Payal Kapadia led the 131-day-long protest against the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan as the chairman of the governing body of FTII.
The appointment of the BJP activist whose only claim to fame was his role as Yudhistir in the TV serial Mahabharat caused the state of ferment in FTII in 2015.
Payal Kapadia has recently made history by being the first Indian to win a prestigious Grand Prix award and was one of the main leaders to hold a 131-day-long protest.
Bollywood actors such as Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Rajkumar Rao, and Anupam Kher, among others, opposed Gajendra Chauhan.
Celebrated Sound engineer Resul Pookutty on Instagram wrote, “FTII must now withdraw the cases against Payal and the other students. It owes them the prestige that has been bestowed upon it.”
Kapadia, an accused number 25 has to go to court next month for another hearing in the case that has been ongoing since 2015.
As some individuals noted on X following Kapadia’s Grand Prix victory, the FTII took disciplinary action against her when she spearheaded the class boycott.
Later, FTII terminated her international exchange grant and scholarship.
The Pune Police registered a formal complaint (FIR) against 35 students that year, including Kapadia, for allegedly kidnapping and holding FTII director Prashant Pathrabe captive in his office.
They were demonstrating against Pathrode’s choice to move forward with evaluating the unfinished projects of the 2008 cohort of students.
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