When the sleepy village of Thekkumthala near Kottayam was chosen for the third largest national film institute in India, it was considered a boon to cinema buffs and those aspiring for a career in the film world. Hyped as an institute that would be in the same league of the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune and Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute in Kolkata, hopes were high when the inception of K R Narayanan National Institute of Visual Science and Arts was announced.
But four years after it commenced operations, the students at the fledgling institute are in despair. Uncertainty looms over the admission of the next batch as the course for first batch of the three-year diploma programme, which commenced in 2014, is yet to be completed. The 2017 batch was announced as a zero batch since the institute cannot accommodate more than three batches at the same time for the residential course, much to the dismay of aspirants.
Students of the first batch, meanwhile, launched a strike two weeks ago over the delay in granting funds for their final-year project. However, K Ampady, IIS, the director of the institute, told Onmanorama that the students resumed pending projects after aid was disbursed to them, though after a delay. “As per a new government regulation, we are not allowed to maintain a bank account, instead, directed to give out beneficiary cheques from state treasury for funding their projects. The procedures took time causing the delay. As the students were not provided funds on time, their shoots were interrupted, which triggered the strike. However, once the funds were distributed, they could resume the project,” he reasoned.
However, students claimed that the initial hurry to start classes is the root cause of many issues. “We are being provided with quality equipment and facilities despite the delays. We are happy with the fee structure also. But the absence of a clear procedure and plan of activity have hit the courses. Procedural delays have affected the first two batches. We gave a letter to the minister of education and secretary of higher education citing these issues and also asking for a permanent director,” said Harold Antony Paulson, a second-batch student and the chairman of the students union there.
“Our the course got delayed by almost a year. The theatre and mixing studio are yet to be completed. We had relied on hired equipment and facilities from the state-run Chitranjali studio for our projects,” a final-year student, who doesn't want to be named, said.
The initial allocation for the institute project was Rs 53 crore. Of this, almost Rs 47 crore has been spent so far for land allocation, infrastructural development and operations. The rest will be exhausted after building the theatre and mixing studio, according to the director. “We had moved a request to the government for an additional Rs 10 crore funding for the next phase, which was allocated this year,” he added.
The institution had to fight too many devils at once since its initiation. The management had to face protests from land owners whose land was procured for the campus and there were delays in finalising the curriculum. They had to run the centre with inadequate equipment.
The classes for the first batch students commenced in October 2014, more than a year before the formal opening of the institute, after a national-level entrance and interview. The institution, which is the only state-run national film institute in Kerala, has an intake capacity of 60 students, 10 each in six disciplines including script writing and direction, editing, cinematography, audiography, animation and visual effects; and acting.
The institute was announced in 2006 as a centre of excellence in the field of visual arts, with a focus on film education. It was originally constituted under the aegis of the Centre for Continuing Education, but was later declared as an autonomous centre by the government.
The Institute had attained the candidate membership for the Cannes-based CILECT, the International Association of Film and Television Schools. It can request a permanent membership and affiliation once it completes five years of functioning, provided, it has the 'appropriate curricula, facilities, equipment, finances and teaching staff to support the educational process.' CILECT affiliation would benefit the Centre in many ways like foreign exchange programmes and a global recognition.
The next one year is crucial for the institute to become self-dependent and to ensure a steady curriculum calendar. Losing another academic year could severely affect the glory of one of the most prized Institutes in the state, and then it won't stand a chance to be part of the film hub trinity in India.