Culture Station

Cinema paradiso
Jaya Bachchan

“Jaya was a year junior to me, but was very friendly to people in my batch. Bubbly and full of life, she was responsible for my pet name ‘Bunty’. She had seen the film Aakhri Khat, which had a baby called Bunty in it and since I was the youngest in my class, she decided to call me Bunty,” reminisces veteran actor Paintal, who is now head of the acting department at the institute.

Shatrughan Sinha

“Shatruji was two years my senior and we didn’t interact much in college, even though I had seen him perform in some student films made then. My favourite memory of him was when Subhash Ghai, Asrani and I were working on a Guru Dutt production called Umang. During dance rehearsals at Natraj studios, Shatruji suddenly walked in and started flaunting an Indian Airlines ticket he had been given to report to an outdoor shoot. It was a big deal for an actor to be given plane tickets unless you were a big star in those days, and he made sure he showed it off to all of us,” says Paintal.

Smita Patil

For about 28 years, the acting course at FTII was suspended. Faculty member Adil Amaan says that young filmmakers at the institute brought in actors from outside the institute to play characters in their films. Seen here is Smita Patil in a rare photo of an appearance she made in an FTII film, even though she never studied at the institute herself.

Irrfan Khan

Seen in the still from the film Reconnaissance, Irrfan Khan was never an FTII student. But as the acting course had been suspended for a while, filmmakers there drafted in actors from outside for their films. Filmmaker Sandeep Chatterjee, who made Reconnaissance, says, “Irrfan had just passed out of the National School of Drama (NSD) and was cast as the lead in my film. I had heard a few good things about his acting then, and he did a great job of playing the central character lost with a group of young people in a forest.”

Govardhan Asrani

“Asraniji was my teacher at FTII, even though he himself had graduated only a few years before me. He did some fantastic exercises and opened up mental avenues for actors like me. Known for his comic roles, he was surprisingly very strict in class. Later, we became close friends after having acted in a number of films together. He was and remains the life of every party,” says Paintal.

Satish Shah and Rakesh Bedi

Satish Shah (seen in the still with fellow actor Rakesh Bedi) says that the FTII years were a time when students had little money to splurge. As a result, a group of actors would perform at the National Defence Academy in Pune to entertain the officers there. “In return, we were treated to some scrumptious food and daru,” says the actor.

Shabana Azmi

“Shabana was always honest and blunt in her opinions and known to speak her mind, even before she became a well-known actor. A brilliant actress from day one, we knew she would end up with the gold medal at the end of the course, which she did too,” says Adil Amaan, who graduated along with Shabana Azmi and is now a faculty member at the institute.

Suport by DNA NEWS