Ali Fazal slams FTII for their hypocrisy; says ‘just don’t’

The recent win for India at the Canne Film Festival has been inviting a lot of love, applause and appreciation from all facets and streams of the industry. As known, filmmaker Payal Kapadia won the Grand Prix award at the Cannes Film Festival. Kapadia’s film All We Imagine As Light made history by winning the prestigious award.

Adding to this was FTII (Film & Television Institute of India), whose official Twitter handle shared pictures of Payal Kapadia and fellow alumnus Chidanand Naik, who won the La Cinef Award for Best Short Film for “Sunflowers Were The First Ones To Know.” FTII’s post read, “It is a moment of pride for FTII as its Alumni create history at Cannes. As we witness a phenomenal year for Indian Cinema at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, FTII cherishes the glorious achievements of its Alumni at this Mega International Stage of Cinema.”

This was slammed by Fazal, who went on to reply to the tweet saying, “Uhhh… please don’t. Just don’t”.

This came in wake of the major controversy from 2015, when Kapadia led a student protest against the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan as FTII president, opposing that he lacked the necessary credentials to be one.

Hence, disciplinary action was taken against her and other protesting students. The matter got worse later and eventually, Kapadia and her peers were also denied scholarships during this challenging period.

But, in 2017, under new FTII director Bhupendra Kainthola, the institute tried to mend relations by issuing a letter of support and covering Payal Kapadia’s travel expenses to Cannes for the screening of her short film, Afternoon Clouds.