Four talented students of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune were conferred top honours at the 53rd National Film Awards of the Union information and broadcasting ministry at a gala event staged in New Delhi on August 7.

Ganesh Gaikwad, a final year film direction student, won the national award for best direction and was conferred the swarna kamal (gold medal) and a cash prize of Rs.20,000 for his 24 minute documentary Voices Across the Ocean. Shot in London, it features the India link of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

“I’m thrilled this documentary, which I have dedicated to my father Shankar, a retired military officer and an avid BBC radio fan who introduced me to the BBC in my childhood, won a national award. My docu-drama tells the nostalgic story of my father’s life long link with the BBC,” says Gaikwad.

Another FTII student Paramvir Singh, who graduated this year, bagged the award for best cinematography to win a rajat kamal (silver medal) and a cash prize of Rs.10,000. He was in-charge of the camera crew of Parsiwada, Tarapore Present Day, a 22 minute documentary which profiles Mumbai’s Parsi Community. “The award has been given for its visually poetic depiction of the Parsi community, with imaginative use of lighting and compositions,” says the award citation.

A rajat kamal and cash prize of Rs.10,000 was also awarded to Anmol Bhave for audiography in the 32 minute Closer. And to make the 53rd National Film Awards function a memorable evening for FTII, Vibhu Puri won a special mention (direction) for his 27 minute feature film Pocket Watch.

The rain of awards won by FTII students is a sign that the institute (estb.1960) which went through a long period of troubled times and experienced prolonged student agitations during the past few years, has recovered its momentum. Following the resignation of its controversial director Mohan Agashe in 2002, under the leadership of Tripurari Sharan (IAS), this pioneer film institute is back on track. In addition to restoring its three-year integrated film and cinema study programme which had been scrapped by the Agashe administration, FTII has introduced new postgrad diploma programmes in animation, computer graphics and screenplay writing. “The several prestigious awards which our students have won shows that when there’s an environment conducive to learning and experimentation, a lot can be achieved,” says Sharan.

Which is good news because the brain dead badshahs who rule Bollywood — the world’s largest (in terms of number of feature films produced annually) feature films factory —need all the help they can get.

Michael Gonsalves (Pune)