Shabana Azmi, Zarina Wahab, Kanwaljit Singh to attend FTII’s online reunion on July 24
PUNE An online reunion of FTII’s acting batch (1971-73) in celebration of the Golden Jubilee of their entry into the Film Institute of India (now Film and Television Institute of India---FTII) will see some famous actors of yesteryear come together to share memories
PUNE An online reunion of FTII’s acting batch (1971-73) in celebration of the Golden Jubilee of their entry into the Film Institute of India (now Film and Television Institute of India---FTII) will see some famous actors of yesteryear come together to share memories.
The event, organised by FTII’s department of screen acting, will be held from 4pm-6pm on July 24.
Among those attending are Shabana Azmi, Zarina Wahab, Kanwaljit Singh, actor-singer Shailendra Singh, Neelam Mehra, Mohan Sharma, Pavan Kumar Dutta, Adil Amaan, Ashwini Dada, Dilip Kumar Prasad and Mirza Mahmood Baig.
“The conversation, to be moderated by Siddharth Shasta, head of the department, and Jijoy PR, associate professor department of screen acting, will be a trip down memory lane as the alumni recall their moments of joy and anxiety in the campus, their experience of learning from a legendary teacher Roshan Taneja, their journey as professionals in the industry and more,” said Bhupendra Kainthola, director, FTII Pune.
The 1971-73 acting batch, which came at FTII eight years after the first batch entered in 1963, had 22 students: Shabana Azmi, Reeta Bhaduri, Pavan Kumar Dutta, Preeti Ganguly, Mohan Sharma, Zarina Wahab, Mirza Mahmood Baig, Adil Amaan, Shailendra Singh, Neelam Mehra, Rajesh Lahr, Kanwal Jit Singh, Satinder Narula, Kamal Bir Kaur, Sunita Kamal Bedi, Laxmi Sharma, Vinod Khanna, Ashwini Dada, Balman Singh Swar, Nughali Narayan Anil Kumar, Dilip Kumar Prasad and Kuldeep Bhagi.
Of them, three are no more--Reeta Bahaduri, Preeti Ganguly and Satinder Narula.
In the 60s, 70s and 80s FTII was known mainly for its ‘stars.’ Anyone in India interested in becoming an actor would head for ‘Poona Film Institute’. Shatrughan Sinha, Jaya Bachchan, Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Shabana Azmi, Ranjeeta, Rehana Sultan, Mithun Chakraborty, Raza Murad, Danny Denzongpa, Mukesh Khanna, Navin Nischol, Asrani, Satish Shah, Paintal, Rakesh Bedi, Anil Dhawan, Tom Alter, Rajkumar Rao and others lent further attraction to the charm of the Institute.
“Many aspiring actors look up to FTII actors as role models and will find this interaction inspirational. In times to come we plan to arrange more such reunions of FTII’s acting batches which have crossed milestones,” said Kainthola.