Actor Ali Fazal can't help call spade a spade. He has called out the hypocrisy of the Film & Television Institute of India, Pune for celebrating its alumnus Payal Kapadia's historic Grand Prix win at the Cannes Film Festival. 

FTII's post

The official X handle of FTII on Sunday shared a couple of pictures from the Cannes Film Festival, of its alumni members Payal Kapadia and Chidanand Naik (who won the La Cinef Award for Best Short for her film Sunflowers Were The First Ones To Know).

The caption stated, “It is a moment of pride for FTII as its Alumni create history at Cannes. As we witness a phenomenal year for Indian Cinema at 77th Cannes Film Festival, FTII cherishes the glorious achievements of its Alumni at this Mega International Stage of Cinema.”

Reactions to FTII's post

Ali Fazal reposted FTII's message with the caption, “Uhhh… please don’t. Just dont.” Back in 2015, disciplinary action was taken against Payal for leading a student protest against the appointment of actor-turned-politician Gajendra Chauhan as the FTII president. They argued that he didn't have the credibility to head a premier institution like FTII.

Additionally, Pune Police filed a chargesheet against 35 students, including Payal, for holding then-FTII director Prashant Pathrabe captive in his office after his decision to assess incomplete projects of students from the 2008 batch. Payal and other students were also denied scholarships. However, a couple of years later in 2017, the new FTII director Bhupendra Kainthola course-corrected, issued a letter of support, and covered the travel expenses of Payal as she travelled to Cannes Film Festival for the screening of her short film Afternoon Clouds.

Payal has now become the first Indian filmmaker to win the Grand Prix award for her directorial debut feature All We Imagine As Light. Other X users also objected to FTII's hypocritical stance. One of them commented, “They are forced to post this. Success made it (fire emoji)." Another wrote, ”Taking credit for her success after the torture and harassment you forced upon her … have some shame seriously!!" “Shame Shame Shame.... But for you FTII this would have happened so much earlier and so many more would have come our countries way…,” read a third comment.

Read Also: tracing payal kapadia's journey, from protesting against gajendra chauhan at ftii to winning grand prix at cannes