Agartala, Nov 28: Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha on Monday inaugurated the Tripura Film and Television Institute (TFTI) at Nazrul Kalakshetra complex in the city at the aegis of Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute (SRFTI) of Kolkata.
SRFTI Director Himansu Sekhar Khatua and Ferdous Ahmed, a popular film actor from Bangladesh, attended the function along with Tripura's leading film and television personalities. While the Cultural Affairs department of Tripura would manage the administration of TFTI, the institution's academic affairs and curriculum would be completely controlled by SRFTI.
Addressing the gathering the Chief Minister said the Northeast has huge potential for films and video production but the region doesn’t have a premiere institute to train the creative minds and facilitate their production, which prompted the Tripura government to start TFTI here for helping the budding talents of Northeast and neighbouring Bangladesh.
The films of Manipur and Assam have already got space in the global community for their creation. Tripura, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland, and Arunachal Pradesh have a history of filmmaking, and the talents of the region are looking for institutional support, as it is difficult for many of them to use the production and post-production facilities in Kolkata, Mumbai, and Delhi, Saha observed.
Highlighting the contribution of Tripura to the Indian film industry Deputy Chief Minister Dev Varma said, “The Tripura royal family patronised cinema and film when most of the people were ignorant about the medium. The affection of the royal family toward culture and education was well-recognised by none other than Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore who visited Tripura at least seven times and composed several songs in the state.”
The music maestro of Bollywood Sachin Dev Burman hails from Tripura but due to a lack of infrastructure film, cinema, and music industry is yet to flourish in the state despite having a colourful legacy and huge potential, TFTI is the beginning of a new journey of development in Tripura, Dev Varma said.
Cultural Affairs Minister Sushanta Chowdhury attributed that TFTI is a dream project of the state government and the department would extend support to make it one of the country's premiere institutions where not only Indians but also the students of neighbouring countries would be able to learn cinematography and films.
“A hundred years ago when people did not even think of formal education and venturing outside the home state, Sachin Dev Burman had gone to Mumbai and showcased his talent. Today the world knows him for his contribution to the Indian film industry and we want to carry forward his legacy by setting up a full-fledged film institute here,” Chowdhury stated.
Appreciating the move, SRFTI director Khatua said, TFTI has introduced short courses on film appreciation, production management, news reading and anchoring, and screen acting along with the foundation course of filmmaking. In the next phase, shooting, and editing would be started with the best faculties of SRFTI and legend-visiting faculties of the country.
“With the advent of new media technology and the social media revolution, people from all walks of life venture to go for shooting and audio-video production. Now there is a boom in electronic media to recapitulate innovation at the individual level becomes a passion and at this juncture, TFTI would help a lot of young minds to train up themselves for better production,” said Bangladeshi actor Firdous Ahmed. (UNI)