RK’s Farm turned into Film School

Last year, on May 16, the World Peace Center and Maharashtra Institute of Technology (MIT), Pune, launched the Raj Kapoor Memorial–The Golden Era of Indian Cinema at their Rajbaug Educational Complex in Loni-Kalbhor.  The late filmmaker’s sons, Randhir and Rajeev Kapoor, inaugurated the museum which stands alongside Raj Kapoor’s bungalow.  It journeys through his repertoire, reviving memories from films like Mera Naam Joker, Bobby, Satyam Shivam Sundaram and Prem Rog which were shot on the 125-acre Loni farm which he had bought in the ’60s.  There are also tributes to other filmmakers 

This September, the MIT School of Film and Television will come up on 25 acres of the same property which also houses the Vishwashanti Sangeet Kala Academy, along with the samadhis of Raj Kapoor, and his parents Prithviraj and Ramsarni Kapoor. 

The school will offer post graduate diplomas in direction, editing, sound and cinematography.  These are three-year courses–one-year foundation course and two for specialisation. “There are also two-year courses in scriptwriting and production design.  There will be 20 students in each batch,” said Dr Jabbar Patel, filmmaker and chairperson of the institute.

Dr Patel addressed keynote address at a conference on cinema and announced, “The basics of the curriculum will be similar to that at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, but we will offer far more advanced technical training.”

The beginning of this saga started after the Kapoor family donated the property to Vishwanath Karad, the founder president of World Peace Center, because it was Raj Kapoor’s wish that the land be used for educational and not commercial purposes. Karad, the founder-director of the MIT Group, built the college there.

“We’ve been working on the project for the last two-three years, it will open this September,” Dr Patel informed.

The governing council of the school includes supporters like Mani Ratnam, Shaji N Karun, Mammootty, Girish Kasaravalli, Goutam Ghose and Jahnu Barua. Mentors include Binod Pradhan for cinematography, Resul Pookutty for sound design, A Sreekar Prasad for editing, Jayant Deshmukh for production design, Kamlesh Pandey for scripting, Shankar Mahadevan for music and Samar Nakhate for direction.

“There will also be faculty members from the film fraternity, drawn from different disciplines, who will take classes and conduct workshops, along with academicians and technicians from abroad.  We are trying to get it affiliated with world class film schools in Europe and America,” said Dr Patel.

“Raj Kapoor saab was one of the legends of Indian cinema, whose name was second only to Jawaharlal Nehru, our first Prime Minister in the ’50s and ’60s,” says Dr Patel.  “He’d be happy to see young talent blooming on his beloved Loni farm.”