Rajkumar Hirani turns down role in FTII

Filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani on Tuesday quashed reports that he is taking over a key role in FTII, which is currently under the chairmanship of Gajendra Chauhan.

His spokesperson said the "PK" filmmaker was offered the post of academic council head in the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), but he won't be able to take it up due to work commitments.

"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," Hirani'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.

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 be given a role in FTII to solve existing issues.

Hirani is an alumni of FTII, where he studied film editing.

FTII, which is the country's premier institute in film studies, has been in the news as its students have been on strike for the last 89 days to oppose the appointment of actor and BJP member Gajendra Chauhan as the facility's chairman.

They have said that Chauhan lacks the credentials for the post and that his appointment is politically motivated.