Indian actor R. Madhavan has been appointed as the new President of the Film and Television Institute of India – FTII and as Chairman of its governing organization. Madhavan has replaced actor and filmmaker Shekhar Kapur whose work tenure was completed in March this year.
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Union Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Anurag Thakur complimented Madhavan on X (formerly Twitter). He wrote, “Heartiest congratulations to @ActorMadhavan ji on being nominated as President of @FTIIOfficial and Chairman of the governing council. I’m sure that your vast experience & strong ethics will enrich this institute, bring positive changes, & take it to a higher level. My best wishes to you.”
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As a response to the post, Madhavan said that he would do his very best to live up to all the expectations set on him. He wrote on X, “Thank you so very much for the honor and kind wishes @ianuragthakur Ji. I will do my very best to live up to all the expectations. (namaste emojis)”
FTII students had earlier protested a campus visit by Thakur last year when he was working as the information and broadcasting minister. He was accused of spreading “communal hatred”, this was in reference to his hate speech delivered days before riots took place in Delhi in February 2020.
Thakur was noticed leading a group of BJP supporters who were chanting “Desh ke gaddaron ko, goli maro salon ko”, which means “shoot the traitors of the country”.
Meanwhile, last week, Madhavan’s film, Rocketry: The Nambi Effect, gained the National Film Award for Best Feature Film. For the unversed, Madhavan not only acted in the film as space scientist Nambi Narayanan but also donned the hats of the director and writer.
The official Instagram handle of FTII also reposted the two tweets shared by Anurag Thakur and R. Madhavan.
FTII, situated in Pune, Maharashtra, falls under the management of the Central Government’s Information & Broadcasting Ministry. Set up in 1960, the institute offers programs in film editing, direction cinematography, audiography, acting, art direction, and computer graphics and animation.
Before Shekhar Kapur, Actor Roshan Taneja, cartoonist RK Laxman, filmmakers Shyam Benegal, Mrinal Sen, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Mahesh Bhatt, BP Singh, Saeed Akhtar Mirza, actors Girish Karnad, Vinod Khanna, Gajendra Chauhan, Anupam Kher, and screenwriter UR Ananthamurthy have served as the higher officials of the institute.
Bollywood actors such as Jaya Bachchan, Shatrughan Sinha, Raza Murad, Mithun Chakraborty, Naseeruddin Shah, Mukesh Khanna, Rajkummar Rao, Danny Denzongpa, Rakesh Bedi, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Satish Kaushik, and Tom Alter have studied in the institute and form the institute’s notable alumni.
For the unaware, R. Madhavan is a Tamil and Hindi film actor. He gained notable recognition for acting in the Tamil movie Alaipayuthey which was released in 2000 and directed by Mani Ratnam. A year later, he made his Hindi film debut with Dia Mirza in Gautham Vasudev Menon’s cult romantic film Rehna Hai Terre Dil Mein. He has also worked in a couple of successful television serials in the Hindi language during the late 90s.
