Film and Television Institute of India, Pune (FTII)
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History
From film Institute in 1960 to deemed University in 2025
Soham Shah, April 25, 2025: The Indian Express
The Union Ministry of Education has notified the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune as an “Institution Deemed to be University”.
FTII has long been among the most sought-after destinations for the study of the practical aspects of filmmaking, and has produced towering alumni from Naseeruddin Shah, Shabana Azmi, and Adoor Gopalakrishnan to Rajkummar Rao and Jaideep Ahlawat.
What does it mean for FTII to receive the status of a “deemed to be university”?
FTII: the institute
FTII was set up by the Government of India in 1960 in Pune on the premises of the erstwhile Prabhat Studios, a pioneering company that had moved to the city from Kolhapur back in 1933. According to the FTII website, the institute was established as a department of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, and was then known as the Film Institute of India.
‘Television’ was added to the name of the institute in 1971, and FTII soon started in-service training programs for Doordarshan. The public broadcaster’s television training wing moved to Pune from Delhi in 1974. Along with its name, the status of FTII was changed to an autonomous society under the I&B Ministry, run by a governing council and a director appointed by it.
The FTII campus has seen unrest and repeated controversy in recent decades.
The institute had a chronic problem of backlog of courses, which meant standard three-year courses sometimes stretched for years longer, and there were many more students present on campus than was mandated, leading to overcrowding in classes and hostels.
In 2015, students went on a months-long strike to protest the appointment of small-time television actor Gajendra Chauhan as president of the FTII Society, which segued into broader questions of creative freedoms and alleged thought control on campus.
These concerns have persisted, and have flared up from time to time, including last year, when alleged Hindutva activists entered the campus and protested violently against a banner about the razing of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya.
Deemed university
According to the Education Ministry, an institution of higher education that is not (yet) a university but works at a very high standard in a specific area of study, can be declared as an institution “deemed-to-be-university”.
The designation is made by the central government on the advice of the higher education regulator, the University Grants Commission (UGC).
A deemed university enjoys the academic status and privileges of a university, even though it isn’t one. Its objectives include providing higher education leading to excellence in various branches of knowledge from the undergraduate to the research degree levels, while fully conforming to the concept of a university.
This, according to the government, helps strengthen the research ecosystem and contribute to social transformation through socially responsive teaching, learning, research, and fieldwork.
A deemed university can also start new courses or programmes in any field on their existing campus and off-campus centres with the approval of the Executive Council and, if required, the relevant statutory council.
Eligibility for deemed university status
To be eligible to apply, an institute must essentially have a recent proven and measurable track record of excellence.
An institute must have either a National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) ‘A’ grade with at least a 3.01 CGPA for three consecutive cycles or a National Board of Accreditation (NBA) accreditation for two-thirds of eligible programmes for three consecutive cycles.
Being in the top 50 of any category of National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) for the last three years continuously, or in the top 100 of the overall NIRF ranking for the last three years continuously would also make the institute eligible to apply for deemed university status.
The FTII website today advertises itself as a recognised “centre for excellence in audio visual media across the world and one of the best film institutes in India”, whose alumni “work everywhere from Los Angeles, Paris and London to Mumbai, Hyderabad, Trivandrum, Chennai and Kolkata”, and have “gained popularity and earned various laurels as accomplished technicians and superstars”.
Eleven full-time courses in various disciplines of film and television are taught at the institute, the website says. These courses include Direction and Screenplay Writing, Cinematography, Sound Recording and Sound Design, and Screen Acting in the Film Wing, and Electronic Cinematography and Video Editing in the TV Wing.
What changes for FTII
Institute Director Dhiraj Singh said, “This recognition under the distinct category allows FTII to retain its unique identity while embracing the benefits of being a world-class university. Award of degrees and research are immediate benefits while it paves way for better innovation and integration with the academics as NEP umbrella provides a lot of flexibility and scope.”
FTII currently offers Post Graduate Diploma Courses that are granted Master’s degree equivalence by Association of Indian Universities (AIU) and Post Graduate Certificate Courses approved by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).
Registrar Prateek Jain said the number and details of degree courses would be announced soon. “Students selected after the announcement are likely to be enrolled for degree courses as per the courses that will be announced in the upcoming prospectus,” he said.
1960s: David Lean’s visit
Avijit Ghosh , April 26, 2021: The Times of India
Oscar-winning British film director David Lean visited Pune’s FTII campus in the early 1960s, watched a bunch of short films made by the students and tersely told the teachers, “Something is wrong with your teaching,” reveals a new book brought out to celebrate 60 years of the institution.
The attention-grabbing nugget is part of an article written by Hindi film director Sriram Raghavan (Johnny Gaddar, Andhadhun) following a conversation with actor-director Asrani. Both are FTII graduates. Asrani, who belonged to the first batch, was in the campus when the Oscar-winning director made his visit.
Lean (Lawrence of Arabia) made his remark after noticing that the diploma films made by the students were derivative in nature. “I can tell you which shot is from which German or Czech or French film. You should watch the films of V Shantaram and Bimal Roy too,” he said, according to the article.
For the record, FTII went on to produce many first-rate directors and actors: Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Shaji Karun, Subhash Ghai, Jaya Bhaduri, Shabana Azmi, Naseeuddin Shah, Om Puri, Raj Kummar Rao, to name a few. Raghavan further writes that Lean had come to India on a holiday with his fourth wife Leila Matkar who had relatives in Kolhapur. At that time the sets of Dr Zhivago were being erected in Madrid. “He was dressed in a bush shirt and pants and was wearing Kolhapuri chappals,” Asrani told him. Interestingly, the British filmmaker’s name also figured in the interview of award-winning Malayalam film director Shaji Karun (Piravi). He had applied for a seat in FTII’s cinematography course and was quizzed about his views on the photography in David Lean’s films. “The simple confidence that soon I would be on the train back home gave me the audacity to openly expose my lack of knowledge of the subject,” says Karun self-deprecatingly in the book, “Being FTII: Perspectives on the Film and Television Institute of India.”
He goes on to write, “But also, I was quite baffled when one of them asked me whether I would join the Institute if I got selected. I later came to know that it was the renowned filmmaker Mrinal Sen, the then Chairman of the Selection Committee at FTII who had asked me the question. By late evening, the results were published and my name stood second in the chosen eight.”
Raghavan writes that Lean had come to India on a holiday with his fourth wife Leila Matkar who had relatives in Kolhapur. At that time the sets of Dr Zhivago were being erected in Madrid
Prominent chairmen
The Hindu, October 1, 2015
Anwar Jamal Kidwai (1974 - 1977) First chairman, founder of Mass Communication Research centre at Jamia Millia Islamia.
R.K. Laxman (1977- 1980) Legendary cartoonist, Padma Bhushan, Vibhushan. Known for creating the character "Common Man".
Shyam Benegal (1981 - 1983) (1989 - 1992) Known for pioneering parallel cinema. Recipient of Dadasaheb Phalke Award among others.
Mahesh Bhatt (1995- 1998) Award-winning director, screenwriter, producer in mainstream Hindi cinema.
U.R. Ananthamurthy (2005-2008) (2008-2011) Eminent author, Padma Bhushan. Pioneered Navya movement in Kannada language.
Expenditure per student
The Times of India, Jul 14 2015
Sushmi Dey, Himanshi Dhawan & Akshaya Mukul TNN
Spend on FTII students double of med
The ongoing strike in FTII has brought the focus on the adly-run state of affairs in the premier institute. What comes as a hocker is that with a spending of Rs 12 lakh per student a year, a film tudent is subsidized more than ne studying medicine, management or engineering. The expense on each of the 350 TII students is four times higher than on an IIT student, which is around Rs 3.4 lakh a year. Spend on an IIM student is a shade higher at Rs 5 lakh a year as compared to the IITs.
The Centre's spend on medical education at Rs 6 lakh a year per student is only half the money spent on budding filmmakers. Sources say the government devotes an estimated Rs 30 lakh over 5 years to a student to get an MBBS degree.
The reason for this is the need for an attached hospital for every medical college accompanied with funds to recruit doctors, nursing and other hospital staff that add up to high recurring costs. Besides hospital maintenance, there is significant requirement for chemicals, infrastructure and equipment for medical students to undertake practical sessions.
The subsidy burden for medical education may go up as the Centre plans to expand the number of seats in existing medical colleges such as AIIMS over the next three years. In its defence, FTII can claim to have given the Indian film industry well-known cine matic figures like Shyam Benegal, Raju Hirani and Jahnu Barua among many others.It also adds to the country's soft power to supplement diplomacy .
However, there is a case to be made for effective management of the institute. A cost review by the I&B ministry chief advisor found that the extent of recovery through fees, hostel rent and other expenses as a percentage of expenditure in academic activities in FTII has decreased from 25% in 2006-2007 to as low as 11% in 2010-2011. Add to that the fact that 32 strikes in 50-odd years crippled the organization.
Some of the illustrious alumni have expressed concern over the state of affairs and emphasised that it couldn't be at the cost of the institute itself.
