Resul Pookutty &  Payal Kapadia Were Both  Rusticated From The FTII

Fellow-alumni and an Oscar winner Resul Pookutty feel  a  deep  sense  of empathy Cannes achiever  Payal Kapadia. “I feel there are quite a few similarities between my life at FTII and that of Payal Kapadia, this could just be a coincidence. I was rusticated  few times from the hostel at  FTII, once for an issue when I was not even on the campus. I was Shooting with Israeli filmmaker Amos Gitai on a student documentary project in Mumbai, when  the news of my being rusticated came in the  newspaper.  The FTII   can be that arbitrary.In my final year my scholarship was cut by my HOD for not attending uninspiring classes but instead going for assisting seniors. I cried on that day, because 500 rupees was so much for me, I was self funding my studies at FTII.”

Much later when  Resul  won the Oscar,the FTII authorities were proud of  him, just as they are of Payal Kapadia. “After I won the Oscar, when my professor sat with me under the Wisdom Tree and told the press he was proud of me, I felt happy. Payal must also feeling the same right now.”

   However Resul  also believes  here is a huge difference in his  wins  and achievements and  Payal’s. “Me, A R Rahman, Santosh Sivan all of us proved ourselves because our film Industry gave us a  chance, especially me, to experiment with our craft. They listened to me and they understood the value of what we were doing, in my case especially Sanjay Leela Bhansali. If he hadn’t allowed me to flourish in doing Sound Design of Black ,the way I went about it…He spent a lot of money on me back in 2003 by  the standards of Hindi Film Industry. So I  owe my success to my Indian Film fraternity.In Payal’s case Indian Film Industry has nothing to do with it.They may not even support an idea like that to produce or even consider investing in her ideas.”

Speaking  on  Anasuya Sengupta’s win at Cannes  Resul says , “Anasuya’s win is colossal, absolutely brilliant… She worked in the unit of the  film  Chittagong, an independent film we made years ago, where we introduced Rajkummar Rao, Vijay Varma, Jaideep Ahlawat and Nawazuddin Siddiqui. LA based Bedabrata Pain directed it. So it was a huge and pleasant surprise for me when she won the Best Actress at Cannes.I never knew when she became an actor. All the mainstream Indian actors who walk on the red carpet at Cannes may not even consider a role like the  one  Anasuya did in The Shameless if it is offered to  them… Brad Pitt does an independent film like Babel but not our mainstream stars, because we don’t value international  awards .So Anasuya’s win is sweet and courageous, I would say.”