'Rajkumar Hirani not replacing Chauhan at FTII'

Rajkumar Hirani will not replace Film and Television Institute of India's (FTII) chairman Gajendra Chauhan, the spokesperson of the Bollywood filmmaker said on Tuesday.

"He is not replacing Gajendra Chauhan, who is heading the governing council of FTII. He has been asked to head the academic council, but will not be able to take it up as his film work keeps him occupied and he would not have the bandwidth to handle FTII work," the director's spokesperson said in a statement.

"However, he will continue helping from the outside to end this deadlock between the ministry and the students," the spokesperson added, in reference to the students who have been on strike to oppose the appointment of actor and BJP member Chauhan as the institute's chairman.

The statement on behalf of Hirani was issued following rumours that the maker of superhits such as the "Munnabhai" series, "3 Idiots" and "PK", may replace Chauhan as the chairperson of FTII, the country's premier institution for film studies.

Hirani is an FTII alumni himself, and had studied film editing.

On Tuesday, the students' strike reached 89 days. Students and teachers are now on a hunger strike.