Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap has reacted to the violence reported at Kolkata’s Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute ( SRFTI ), where a clash between students and members of the Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat (ABGP) left several people injured on Sunday, September 27. Police have registered FIRs as they investigate the clash.
Reports said around 30 students and two teachers were injured, with several students taken to hospital. Editing student Duttatreya Dey was reportedly injured after being hit by a stone, while another student was said to have lost consciousness after being struck by a brick. The filmmaker wrote: “This is what they stole the votes for in Bengal. This and so much more. The SRFTI Students’ Union has a different account of how the confrontation began. They claimed that some students went to the Main Theatre in the afternoon to put up posters questioning the decision. Some also claimed they received rape threats. Anurag Kashyap’s most recent directorial features were Aaisvary Thackeray’s acting debut Nishaanchi and and Bandar starring Bobby Deol. Bandar, the director’s latest theatrical release, featured Bobby Deol as a once-popular rockstar whose career begins to fall apart after he is accused of sexual harassment.
In a statement issued after the incident, students said they were not informed about the programme before permission was granted. At an evening press conference, students alleged that they were called “urban Naxals”, “terrorists” and “jihadis”. The film looks at male entitlement, media trials, public judgment and a legal system where the “process is the punishment”, leaving Samar stripped of his dignity and trapped both literally and metaphorically.
Sharing a statement from the SRFTI Students’ Union on Instagram on Sunday night, Anurag included a not-so-veiled reference to allegations of ‘vote chori’ in West Bengal and other parts of India.
