i finished my diploma course at the films and television institute of india ftii in 1995 within the stipulated threeyear time frame up until 2000 batches following mine too completed their course in time give or take small delays when i was studying at ftii there were four disciplines direction camera sound and editing which could take 10 students so in any given year there were 120 students on the campus but around 1999 three more disciplines were added production acting and screenwriting but the infrastructure remained the same and soon problems started in 1999 under the directorship of mohan agashe the administration came up with a new course structure instead of a threeyear course there would be three oneyear courses at the end of each year a student would have to reapply for specialization and they could be either eliminated from or elevated to next year as per this decision 80 students were to be admitted in that academic year as against 32 students earlier this was a seriously flawed decision and the idea of forced elimination of students was severely criticized the old system was then reinstated within a year the elimination process had half the number of students reaching the final year but once it was removed the entire batch was pushed up adding 50 per cent more students than planned this even as the infrastructure remained the same the 2008 batch suffered the most for these decisions because by then a huge backlog of delayed projects had built up it was clear to the faculty in 2000 itself that the incoming batch of students would not be able to complete their studies in three years the faculty and the administration knew the 2008 batch was in for delayed courses then how can the batch be blamed for the delay the faculty recommended that 2008 be declared a zero year the crucial seat of the head of the department of direction too had been lying vacant for three years but at the ministrys instance ftii announced admissions for 2008read also ftii crisis director dean differ on bouncers around this time the supreme court had asked the ftii to implement the 275 per cent obc reservation without reducing the strength of the general category so in september 2008 94 students were admitted including the acting students the first year went of smoothly and then everything started falling apart late july 2009 swine flu forced the closure of the hostels and the institute this was followed by other disruptions the international students film festival was held to celebrate 100 years of indian cinema followed by the national students festival in 2009 the government also appointed the consultancy hewitt associates to recommend steps to upgrade ftii its report which led to an uproar was a barely disguised recommendation to privatize the institute the government was forced to scrap this report a new committee was appointed under the chairmanship of pk nair the former director of national