50 Glorious Years of Film Institute

FTII is celebrating the Golden Jubilee Year from 20 th March 2010 onwards at Pune. I really miss being there meeting old friends and teachers and taking part in the celebrations. Any how I will plan and come there for one of the major functions as this is going to be a year long activity.

My Best Wishes to all those who are fortunate enough to be present there !

May the Institute grow up bigger and bigger like the Wisdom Tree and spread its branches all over the world!

A friend invites after 42 years

I first met Kabeer Raothar in 1968 when I joined the Film Institute and he was senior to me by one year and was studying in the Second Year Film Direction Course. He immediately took over the role of a Godfather and had been a wellwisher and advisor.

After leaving the Institute while doing K.G.George's debut film SWAPNADANAM, we met again. By that time he had already directed a Hindi film called LUBNA and was based in Mumbai. Later on he had been to Kerala and had directed AMBALAKKARA PANCHAYAT and few other films.More than Twenty years back he had asked me to work in one of his films, but I could not find enough dates to accomodate his request. In the meantime after several unsuccessful attempts at film making, he is planning a come back Malayalam film titled INGANYUM ORAAL. This time well in advance, he had my dates committed and we have started the shooting of the film from 7 th January 2010 onwards at Thiruvananthapuram. The switch on ceremony was performed by Shri.S. Kumar of New Theatres and the clap board sounded by the Hon. Kerala Minister Divakaran. The cast consists of Sai Kumar, Vinu Mohan, Raghavan, Mamu Koya, Indrans, Sreekumar, Praveena, Sarayu, K.P.A.C.Lalitha , Janaki, Kulapally Leela etc

Switch on by Shri. S. Kumar

From (L-R) Myself, S.Kumar, Minister Divakaran, Praveena,
Kabeer Raotherand Producer Sainudeen



Myself with Kabeer

Kabeer giving instructions as leading man Vinu Mohan watches

Isn't it great, that 42 years after meeting Kabeer Raothar , I am working with him in a film !

Meeting of old friends

Today, along with my Director Shashi Paravoor and Art Director Krishnan Kutty, I happened to go to Chitranjali Studios to see the floor for erecting a set for the shooting of a song sequence of our Malayalam film KADAKSHAM. On the floors, a film shooting was in progress, a film about Raja Ravi Varma directed by Lenin Rajendran and Cinematography by Madhu Ambat a good old friend of mine. Acting as Raja Ravi Varma was none other than Cinematographer Santosh Sivan!

From behind the camera he had come before the camera in a new role as performer and I found him really enjoying it, memorising his dialogues like a student preparing for his examinations! He is taking it as a challenge and is working hard. I am sure that he will really leave his imprint in this new field too and wish him all success!

It was also rare meeting of old friends and journalist Pallissery was keen on recording the occassion for posterity, this meeting of three Cinematographers - all FTII graduates.

Santosh, Myself and Madhu Ambat


Santosh as Raja Ravi Varma


In a Romantic Mood!

A rare Group Photograph

Towards the end of the Second year, after a student gathering at the Institute some one hurriedly organized a group photo session, which resulted in a rare photograph containing a large number of students. (1970,1971 and 1972 Batches)



To see the names of the persons, please check the List against the numbers marked on the photograph:

1.A. Swami Nathan, 2.Arun Kumar Nigam, 3. Madhusudhan, 4. Desh Gautam, 5. Balbir Sharma, 7. Page, 8.Mushir Ahmed, 9.Mrs.Mushir Ahmed, 10. Mrs. Jagat Murari, 11 Jagat Murari ,12 B.K. Chaturvedi,13. Sudhartha Basu, 14 Imtiaz Ahmedkan Pathan , 16.A.S.Kanal,17, J P Singhal (SPW), 18. J.K.Patra, 19 Akki Hame Chander, 20 Venugopal K Thakkar, 21 Surendra Sahu, 22 . Kumar Nayak, 23 T.N. Mohan, 25 Baba Majagavankar, 26. J. P. Dikshit, 27 Vinay Shukla, 30. HarishChawla,31. Harish Gupta, 32 S,K.Jolly, 36. M.Azad, 37 Harbhajan Singh, 40. Bhaskar Unni, 42. Amrit Lal Lakhanpal. 44. Manoj Kumar(SRSE), 45, Ramachandra Babu, 47. Deepak Dhar,48. Baburao Tanajee Rokade 49. Raza Murad, 50. Subhash Soin, 51. Anil Jain Satish Aima, 52. K.R.Mohanan, 53. G,R,Menon, 54. Krishna Ragahav, 56. Faisal (Jordan)58 .Surendra Chowdhary, 60. Peer Mohammed, 62 .Venkataswami Naidu Jatla, 64 Kasturi Ramachandra Murthy, 65. Paulose,66. Umesh Bihari Mathur, 69. Shyamal Krishna Ghosh, 71. V.N.Raina ,72. Satish Kumar Gupta(SRSE), 75. Kabir Rawther. 76. S K Srivastav (SRSE)

The list is incomplete - I request my friends to provide me the missing names so that I can complete the list.

I think the picture was taken by none other than K.K.Jaiswal as he is missing from the photo. The light was fading as it was quite late in the evening and some more photos were taken, one of which is given below.



Baba Majgavkar ( standing first from left) Surendra Sahu (centre with glasses)Deepak Dhar (tall person in the back row) are among the few in this smaller group.


I found another photograph , which was slightly out of focus with a slight rearrangement, this time I am sitting down in the front row ( second from left) flanked by K.K.Jaiswal on my right and Baba Majgavkar on my left.


( My thanks to K.K.Jaiswal for filling up some of the missing names)

Film Archives and P.K.Nair

The presence of National Film Archives in the Institute campus itself was a great blessing to the students of Cinema. Many days a number of films new and old arrive there from countries around the world. All the films were screened and assessed about their contents as well as their physical condition before being sent to the storage vaults by none other than P.K.Nair. The students were permitted to attend the archives' screening conducted in the Institute theatres after the class hours. It was a rare opportunity for the students to see such a large number of films from such a variety of film making countries and that too right in their campus. I do not know of any other Institute in the world which had this kind of access to world cinema, at that period.

Sometimes when films arrive in large numbers the screenings will be held early in the mornings and even on holidays too. Nair saab never sat alone in the theatre even at unearthly hours, for there will be always a faithful crowd of students around him to give company. Only it thinned when the films were some very old Indian films from silent era or early sound period.

An interesting thing happened during our time at the Institute. In the height of winter I woke up early in the morning due to the extreme cold and looked out of the window from my hostel room. I saw a large crowd of students in front of the class room waiting for the projectionist to come and open the theatre doors. Later I came to know the real reason for the sudden interest of the students in the screening in spite of the extreme cold climate. The Madras Regional Film Censor Board was wondering what to do with the accumulating collection of censor cuttings from the regional films censored their from their very inception. Finally some one higher there had decided to send this huge collection of tidbits to the Archives! All these bits of objectionable material was joined together and projected for cataloging purposes. Even though the details of screening was kept a secret and the timing was fixed at odd hours, some of the students smelled it and thronged the theatre. They had their eyes full with glimpses of gyrations and exposure of flesh by sexy sirens from the south! Unfortunately I missed the show as I was feeling too lazy to come down from my room because of the cold outside!

An amazing thing was that when some of the cans were opened in the archives, it was found to contain bricks and stones etc instead of film clips. Obviously some body in the censor office returned the cuttings back to the producers for clandestine joining in the films and filled the cans with some weight!

I should also mention about the great support Nair Saab got from the dedicated staff who worked there day and night, especially Kurien, Varghese and Parvathy Nair (a former Editing alumni). Beautiful Parvathy Nair with her elegant demeanor, was the centre of attraction amongst the students. While I was in the final year I had an opportunity to do the cinematography work in a documentary film directed by her. The film was shot in Bombay and I had my maiden travel in the legendary Deccan Queen train.

After the Archives screenings Nair saab used to discuss the viewed films with the students and explained the aesthetics of cinema. It was a kind of informal education which contributed for the development of cinematic sensibility amongst the student community. All the students showed much respect to Nair Saab even many years after leaving the Institute.

I used to meet him often at the International Film Festivals at Chennai or Thiruvananthapuram all of which he very religiously attended. Later on when he built a house and settled there, we used to meet in film functions. Once I happened to be a member of the Film Preview committee of the International Film Festival of Kerala and for a week viewed hundreds of films and selected entries for various categories. Because of his extensive and exhaustive knowledge of Cinema he was much respected by the film makers of Kerala.

When I was the General Secretary of Malayalam Cine Technicians Association ( MACTA) during the Guru Pooja I had the privilege of honouring Nair Saab by conferring the Honourary Membership of MACTA. Though he was just recovering from an accident injury in Pune, he had travelled all the way to Ernakulam to attend the function.

Nair Saab at MACTA Function
Myself making the introduction speech

Film Processing Laboratory and Library

Though we had to study the theoretical aspects of film processing, only after we actually started filming that we understood the intricacies of the chemical process and how it affects the density of the negative etc. Of course the man who was most helpful to me there was Raman Nair (Editing 1966 Batch), the younger brother of Film Archives P.K.Nair. For reasons unknown, after completing the editing course he had been working in the film processing laboratory. Years later we were associated in the Malayalam film "AEKAKINI" directed by G.S.Panikkar.

The Library at the Institute was one of the finest in India with regard to books on Cinema and collection of journals. Many a hours were spent in the library reading the latest issues of Sight and Sound, American Cinematographer etc. It was there that I became deeply attached to the American Cinematographer magazine that for many years I continued reading it to keep up with the latest technologies in Cinematography. After leaving the Institute , I was in Madras working in films. I became a member of the American library where I used to visit often to borrow books on cinema as well as to read the latest issue of AC magazine. The air-conditioned comfort of the library in the scorching summer months at Madras and the proximity of the drive-in-woodlands hotel was an added attraction. Later on when I could afford it I became a subscriber and continued reading it to update on the emerging technologies.

It was a great joy that an interview of mine was published in that great magazine when I did an English film BEYOND THE SOUL Directed by Rajeev Anchal. Please click HERE to read the interview published in September 2002 issue of American Cinematographer Magazine.

The Library at the Institute had played a major part in my film education shared only by the National Film Archives. I think most of the Institute Alumni will definitely agree that the Library and the Film Archives had contributed much to their film education.