Renowned film-maker Subhash Ghai was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the ongoing 9th Pune International Film Festival 2011 (PIFF) in Pune.
Also the founder and chairman of Whistling Woods International (WWI), Ghai expressed his happiness at getting recognition not only as a film-maker, but as an educationist for nurturing and training aspiring film-makers too.
“I am honoured to receive this award in the city that I started my journey in, as a student of the first batch of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in 1963,” said Ghai.
A successful director who has deep understanding of the movie business, Ghai said that it was in 1990 that he first thought of setting up a film school and library.
“I am the first independent film-maker who wanted to start a school to pass on skills to the next generation. I was encouraged by people from the film industry to provide world-class education in all aspects of film-making, television, animation and media arts.”
Ghai has been instrumental in launching many artistes, like Jackie Shroff (Hero - 1983), Madhuri Dixit (Ram Lakhan -1989) and Manisha Koirala (Saudagar - 1991).
However, due to this, many aspiring actors started approaching him and expected him to launch them.
“I could identify with their struggle because I had gone through the same when I moved from Pune to Mumbai. This led to the idea of starting a film school and library, where amateur artistes could get an opportunity to know how they perform professionally rather than just dream big,” he said.
As he could not afford the cost of buying a plot of land in Mumbai for his dream project, he made a proposal to then chief minister Sharad Pawar in 1993 to allot land for the school campus. “However, nothing happened. The proposal was passed from Pawar to Manohar Joshi to Narayan Rane and Vilasrao Deshmukh. Owing to the support of Sunil Dutt and Dilip Kumar, Deshmukh agreed to allot 20 acres of land in Goregaon East (Film City, Mumbai) in 2000. With the state government entering into a joint venture with Mukta Arts to start WWI, the school finally started in 2001,” he said.
“The FTII is a model of 1960, based on the Russian method of film-making, wherein only 10% to 20% achieved success in the film industry and the rest went back home,” said Ghai. Thus, starting a film school after 40 years in 2001, Ghai had to review the changes in the industry over the years. After touring institutes in other countries and working out how to bring the latest technology, skills and philosophy of education in film-making, Ghai and his team designed a skill-based educational approach. “The curriculum we adopted was more skill-based than just being a knowledge domain,” he said.
Stressing on the MBA programme in media and entertainment to revolutionise the way future professionals shape the film industry, Ghai said, “Today, the Indian film industry has corporate recognition and we need good governance. We require talented professionals who understand management. The Manipal University in Bangalore has started a two-year MBA programme in media and entertainment, in association with WWI.”
Ghai also said that parents and students should realise that there are careers beyond acting and direction.
“Those who get attracted towards the film industry are enamoured with the money and fame that comes along. However, professionalism in any field comes through experience; first, we must learn the skills,” he insisted.
Ghai has plans to open a film academy in Pune, especially for children. The WWI has set up campuses at Jhajjar (Haryana) and Hyderabad, he added.
Source: DNA
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