In a bid to tug at the patriotic chords of the protesting FTII students, Union Secretary of Information and Broadcasting Sunil Arora said that the students would not ‘besmirch’ the country’s reputation at an international event.
Speaking at a Press conference, Arora said he wasn’t worried about the students embarrassing the organisers at the International event.
Reaching out emotionally to protesting Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) students, who have threatened to protest at the IFFI venue in Goa, Union Secretary for Information and Broadcasting Sunil Arora on Monday called them “patriotic” and said they would not damage the country’s reputation at the international film event.
“The students of FTII are equally patriotic. They will not besmirch India’s reputation. This is an event of international scale. Beyond that I cannot really comment,” Arora told reporters.
The 46th International Film Festival of India will begin on November 20 and will be unveiled by Actor Anil Kapoor. Arora was down in the State to oversee preparations which are on in full swing at the venue.
FTII students, who had boycotted classes over four months from June 12 this year, in protest against Chauhan’s appointment, claiming the latter was unfit for the position, have only recently decided to return to classes but to continue with their protest especially at IFFI where they will protest through screening films about their protest.
The 11-day festival which begins on November 20, will screen 187 films in various sections from 89 countries. Spain is the country of focus this year.
The festival’s opening film is “The Man Who Knew Infinity” directed by Mathew Brown a film on the 1913 self taught Indian mathematical genius Ramanajun and his friendship with GH Hardy who helped reveal the mathematics genius to the world.
The festival will be brought to a close by AR Rahman on November 30.
More than 7,000 delegates from 38 countries, most from India, have registered for the festival which will also be accompanied by the ninth edition of the Film Bazaar, a networking event aimed at facilitating collaboration in the realm of production and distribution.
The festival is organised by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry’s Directorate of Film Festivals wing in collaboration with the Entertainment Society of Goa, a special purpose vehicle floated by the Government of Goa.