Vijay Varma responds to ex-FTII chairperson Gajendra Chauhan's comment on Payal Kapadia’s Cannes win

Actor Vijay Varma criticised former FTII chairman Gajendra Chauhan for claiming he’s ‘proud’ of filmmaker Payal Kapadia after her Cannes win for her film ‘All We Imagine As Light.’ Vijay shared a post about Gajendra's recent comment on Payal on his Instagram stories and wrote, ‘Sir ye chup rehne ka time tha (Sir this was the time to stay silent),’ with a giggle emoji.

Several people have called out the Pune-based Film and Television Institute of India for claiming Payal as an alumnus after she won the Le Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival.

What Gajendra said

Gajendra claimed he was ‘proud’ to be the chairman at FTII when Payal was studying there. Speaking with PTI, he said,

‘Congratulations to her and I feel proud that I was the chairman at the time when she was doing the course there.’

In 2015, Payal was among the students protesting Gajendra Chauhan's appointment as FTII chairman, leading to her scholarship being revoked when she boycotted classes. However, when her short film ‘Afternoon Clouds’ was selected for Cannes, FTII reversed its decision and supported her. Gajendra told PTI, ‘That protest was not against me, it was against the director and the administration.’

This year, Payal made history with her film ‘All We Imagine As Light,’ which won a prestigious award at Cannes. It was the first time in 30 years that an Indian movie competed in the festival’s main competition. Payal attended Cannes with her actors Chhaya Kadam, Divya Prabha, and Kani Kusruti.

Amul’s tribute

Meanwhile, Amul India shared an animated picture of Payal Kapadia receiving the Grand Prix award for her film ‘All We Imagine as Light’ at the 77th Cannes Film Festival on their official Instagram handle.
Honoring the film's win, they captioned it, ‘Amul Topical: Payal Kapadia’s film wins Grand Prix at 2024 Cannes Film Festival!’ The text on the poster read, ‘All we imagine, we bite! Ek payala butter ka!’

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