Throwback: When Asrani and his FTII batchmates complained to Indira Gandhi on.joblessness

Throwback: When Asrani and his FTII batchmates complained to Indira Gandhi on.joblessness

Asrani and his FTII batchmates complained to Indira Gandhi on not having work: ‘She went to Mumbai and told producers to help him with work as an actor as he has the talents having received training at the Pune’s Film Institute.

Actor Asrani had also mentioned to Indira Gandhi that he couldn’t find work for two years, despite having graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India and found it extremely difficult in finding a job in Mumbai.

But then, none other than Indira Gandhi, who was serving as the Information & Broadcasting Minister at the time, came to the rescue of Asrani and his batchmates.

In an interaction with the media, Asrani said that he first went to Mumbai as a youth, and spent a month hunting for music director Naushad, in the hope that he would assist him in finding an acting job.

But when that plan didn’t work out, Asrani returned to his Jaipur home where his parents told him to start working at the family’s carpet shop.

Asrani had other plans, and so he applied to FTII, where he got admitted to the institute’s first-ever batch.

Asrani as Jaya Bachchan’s teacher attended her wedding with Amitabh Bachchan as ‘brother of the bride.

However, more unpleasant realisations were in store for Asrani, who discovered that a certificate from FTII was worthless in Bollywood. He returned to the institute as a professor to make ends meet.

In Hindi he went on to say that how he would roam around with his certificate, and they would shoo him away saying
“You think acting requires certificates? Big stars don’t have training here, and you think you’re special? Get lost.’” These words obviously upset Asrani.

News input KV Raman