Kolkata: While most SRFTI graduates build careers in Mumbai or elsewhere, a key set of alumni works within Tollywood, where reactions to Sunday’s campus attack remain split. A few filmmakers have openly criticised the smear campaign against current students, but many across the industry have remained silent.
Questioning how seriously the local industry views an institute where 80% of the students are from outside Bengal, he noted that a true synergy between the two has never materialised. Noting that the industry is navigating its own transitions, including pending guild elections and the end of over 18-hour shifts, she pointed out a lack of mutual support. A large number of industry insiders are hesitant to show solidarity due to concerns over how the students disrupted the ongoing event by entering the main theatre and plastering posters. Because of the various political affiliations this is more, and especially now.
“This sets a bad precedent,” noted a Tollywood stakeholder, adding, “It will give agency to anyone to enter a premise we hire for screening our movies and protest. Either many believe the students are wrong, or SRFTI just doesn’t matter to them,” he said. “Film students have never shown any solidarity when we navigated our problems,” Mitra said. Palit, however, said that reticence is not new in Tollywood. And SRFTI is a larger, more national collective than just Tollywood,” Palit said.
BJP MLA and actor Rudranil Ghosh has stated that those protesting against SRFTI event hold ultra-left mentalities and oppose the nation and Sanatan culture. Film-maker Jayabrata Das, who directed Ghosh in ‘Academy of Fine Arts’, pointed out that while figures like Srijit Mukherji , Kaushik Ganguly , Ritwick Chakraborty, and Riddhi Sen have actively spoken out, the broader silence from the mainstream industry is telling. “Bloodshed of film students on campus is an issue that should have disturbed Tollywood at large. Actor Rupanjana Mitra attributed the disconnect to a divide between the students and Tollywood. She added that with multiple internal issues to handle, industry members are cautious about posting on social media without verifying the facts. “We have to be cautious in these times. I have often seen how making comments on the basis of half-baked information can land in trouble,” she stated. “I feel that this silence is a regular practice in Bengali film industry. I’m not upset. I didn’t expect anything else from the majority of the industry. Few people always do speak up and they have this time as well.