Kolkata: A day after violence at Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI), a wave of solidarity and outrage swept through the campus and beyond even as alumni stood by current students.In a social media post, National Award-winning director and SRFTI faculty member Pradipta Bhattacharyya shared an image capturing the letters, ‘RSS’, smeared in reddish-brown—purportedly drawn in students’ blood—on the floor of the institute. Expressing outrage, the caption for the image condemned the use of violence and fear against students, questioning how long such intimidation would continue and warning that accounts of these actions would be settled.Avijit Sen, an SRFTI alumnus from the third batch and director of films ‘Tonic’, ‘Pradhan’, ‘Prajapati’ and of reality shows, such as ‘Dadagiri’, ‘Didi No 1’ and ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa’, visited the campus on Sunday evening and met injured junior students at the hospital. “We have students from across India and abroad. Resorting to violence to counter students’ protests can’t be accepted. This is an administrative problem and I fail to understand why the institute is renting out the property to others who are not related to film-making.”Accounts of SRFTI alumni echoed recent traumas faced by them. National Award-winning director Dominic Sangma, an eighth-batch SRFTI alumnus who heads the department of screenwriting at the Film and Television Institute of India’s (FTII) Jote campus, said he was assaulted by miscreants while returning from an evening walk in Itanagar on Sept 16. Recounting the ordeal, Sangma shared, “These men were harassing two students and I intervened. While the students left on their bikes, the culprits assaulted me. Physically, I am fine now but mentally, I am still traumatised. I read about how SRFTI students and faculty members were attacked on Sunday. I can’t understand how these people have the impunity to attack them on the campus.”Joining the chorus of condemnation, Jayabrata Das, who directed ‘Academy of Fine Arts’, told TOI, “Police can register an FIR against any person if they feel he or she was on the wrong side. But I have seen clippings, in which students could be seen being attacked. I didn’t see any video of students attacking the opposite party. A video is a proof of the large-scale attack on students.” Highlighting the imbalance, he questioned the anomaly of registering FIRs against students and outside attackers, asserting, “All who are in the wrong have to be booked. Investigation must take place without impartiality. It is easy to identify those who attacked students.”KIFF winner and SRFTI 10th-batch alumna Tribeny Rai was shaken to know that the very students, for whom she had screened her film last year, were among those assaulted. “The degree of assault is such that two students have to undergo surgery. Only last year did I screen my ‘Shape of Momo’ for the students and on Sunday, I saw footage of them being assaulted. This is scary. When we were students, we stopped the preview of Bengali commercial films at the main theatre. A film institute is a progressive space for a different kind of art practice. Just as you can’t have a party at a police station, you can’t have such organisational meetings there to earn money. There has to be an appropriate place and time for everything.”Former faculty member and director Abhijit Dasgupta questioned the SRFTI’s need to rent out its well-equipped 400-seat main theatre for a non-film event. Kaushik Ganguly echoed the concern, urging the administration to ensure rented events aligned with the film school’s ethos, rather than treating the space like a banquet hall.Those outside Kolkata also reacted strongly. Sharing an official statement from the SRFTI Students’ Union, film-maker Anurag Kashyap wrote, “This is what they stole the votes for in Bengal. This and so much more.”
