Letters: School for scandal?

The article on Whistling Woods ("Subhash Ghai's school faces uncertain future," January 15) was one-sided in defending Subhash Ghai. Vanita Kohli-Khandekar has failed to take note of several important points. First, why should Ghai, who is known to spend lavishly on his films, approach the government for land and not spend his own money if he wanted to start an acting school? Second, why should he require 20 acres of land for an acting school, that too in Mumbai where land is so scarce and costly? Why could he not be satisfied with a smaller piece of land, say, one or two acres, and buy it from his own resources? Third, why should taxpayers' money be wasted on ventures that have nothing to do with the welfare of the common man? This is a clear case of greed and abuse of relations by Ghai for which he must be made to bear the consequences.

V K Gupta Pune

Vanita Kohli-Khandekar replies: On the point that the article is one-sided, Business Standard spent more than three weeks trying to get the Maharashtra government's point of view but failed to elicit a response. The story also says categorically that Ghai had already chosen land near Panvel and the state government approached him to set up his institute in Film City when it heard about this. Film City is meant to be a no-development zone that can only be used for the development and promotion of arts, cinema et al. It is called Chitrapat Nagri. Whistling Woods is not just an acting school but a film and media institute that also offers courses in journalism, music, cinematography, direction, writing and so on. The current Rs 3- to Rs 5-crore loss that the school makes every year is being borne by Ghai and his company, Mukta Arts. If the land at Film City was meant for the development of arts, why is a film school not a valid use of it?

The 20 acres was meant for the school, a studio and hostel facilities. However, because of the Public Interest Litigation, the studio and hostel were never constructed. Currently, Whistling Woods occupies only 5.5 acres of the 20 acres, the rest is controlled by the government. The institute is a joint venture with the state government, so it does not involve a land grant. The land was the government's contribution to the equity. This was done with aim of making Maharashtra a hub for film schooling, in the light of Mumbai's global reputation for its robust film industry. Further, no taxpayer money has been spent on Whistling Woods, it was constructed and is being run by Mukta Arts.

On the point that Ghai is abusing his powers, he is on record saying he is open to a Central Bureau of Investigation enquiry.

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