Chapter 4 Marwah Film Studio & Academy creates exemplary lofty aspirations for students with fantabulous shoots and stupendous courses. Theory and practice complement each other and enhances the confidence level and personality trait of pupils. The studio is a concocted mix of students who hanker for a successful career and accomplished stars who inspire them with their ostentatious display of power. In close adherence to Marwah’s are Boney Kapoor and Tutu Sharma’s enclosures which are left to the purview of Sandeep Marwah. “Boney Kapoor has a huge studio compared to mine. I use this massive space to train students. I also have access to Tutu Sharma’s half-acre studio too. I had built the requisite infrastructure for both these studios. I still take care of their maintenance. Both appreciate it, as it enhances their name and goodwill.” In an ideal set-up, feedback matters the most to the creator of a studio of this size, as it can either boost a person’s ego or berate one’s fallacies. “I take feedback very seriously. The pass out students from the first batch gave some valuable suggestions for the infrastructure in AAFT, and we immediately rectified them, to their utter astonishment. Equipped with three months of adequate training and backed by a clearance certificate, 43 students got ready to compete in the job market. Good luck favoured this batch with the new channel invasion in India. Studios became the center of all activities to train and educate staff. This new turn of events helped me to get placement for all the students with good job prospects, in these new channels.” Sooner than later, Marwah had an introductory course with film stars to add some glamour and glitz to the classes besides the students’ opportunity to make their films. “Students of the first batch got ten days to shoot a film in a group before the end of the batch, for some practical exposure. Eventually, this led to `Marwah Film & Video Production’ in 1993, thanks to AAFT. This production house benefits and inspires students until today. Profit or business does not matter here except the high level of satisfaction one gets when a student becomes part of the film and walks out with that profile in hand.” This Production house occupies a pertinent place in the international arena as the largest producer of short films, about 2900. “After this elevation, we made this part of our system, curriculum, and marketing. In those days, a single short film's production would cost between Rs 30 to 40, 000. Our students pay a nominal fee of Rs 10, 000, and learn direction and production. Over here, students are happy with the consumer surplus that within three months of their enrolment they make a film before the course ends, as never seen before. I could sense a huge development in the film industry with the influx of qualified students who could become professional filmmakers. This made me feel more like a philanthropist.” Amid this elevation and jubilation, Dean Sadan Malik decided to call it quits. “He wanted to put in his papers and take complete responsibility for the bad planning and wrong assessment. He said he had never handled money in his career. With decades of work experience in Doordarshan and uplifted as the Dean of FTII, I wanted his expertise. So, I told him to continue to guide and support us. Our first batch collection stood at Rs 4, 30, 000 from 43 students while our expenses sky-rocketed to Rs 9, 00, 000 and we had to face a loss of nearly Rs 5, 00, 000.” So, Sandeep Marwah decided to take over the mantle from Sadan Malik, who had handled the curriculum independently till then. “I decided to step into the academic circle and work 24 hours. I advised my wife Reena Marwah to spend more time in the academy. She had begun to come to the academy from the first batch but had a tight schedule from 10 to 1 p.m. and did not work over the weekends. So, I asked her to help develop the academy on a larger scale and she agreed.” Meanwhile, the academy got ready to enroll new students and handle a lot of pressure. “We had four disciplines with 12 seats each to add up to 48 seats, in the second batch. We created two groups for the acting course and shortlisted about 58 students. The students followed the same procedure from the previous batch with new courses and faculty members introduced. We reduced the orientation time from four to three weeks and increased the quantum of business hours from 10 to 2 p.m. from this batch. We dropped the engineering course.” With the second batch, the academy became more systematic and immaculate in its approach and operations. “Our Dean Sadan Malik had got a good exposure by then. We invited well-known professionals to give presentations to the film industry. Meanwhile, we carried out certain changes in the infrastructure and equipment, as per the need. As is the practice, this batch too made films for the next batch, which laid the foundation for the infrastructure for the new production.” The public watched the professional films made by second batch students. Guests, Professors, and students from both the batches too viewed the films with them. A set of eight films was screened under the banner `AAFT Festival of Short Films.’ Sandeep Marwah wanted to introduce this festival to the film fraternity and classified them under the `International Film and TV Club. This became an instant hit and he retained it in a bigger set-up in the Marwah studio. By then, the time had come for the new set of students to make their foray into the academy. “It is a tedious task to shortlist 50 students from a huge turnout of 200 to 300 students accompanied by their parents, friends, or siblings. They come from different family backgrounds and differ in their thought process, language, culture, and communication. This face to face interaction intrigued me that I wanted to learn more about human expressions in the context of cinema, which has a wide reach through different segments. This made me come up with the `International Film and TV Research center’. This novel idea added another feather to Sandeep Marwah’s cap. Families from different walks of life with their educational background, language, and culture became the central topic of research. “After this, I extended my research work to good cinema and television production. This became the first project at the research center. I am very happy to proclaim with pride that I am the only researcher who has completed 65, 000 hours in media.“ The convocation day stood witness to a huge extravaganza with the studio decked up to receive some famous dignitaries A R G Kidwai, the Vice-Chancellor of Jamia, and Accountant General of India, and First Lady of the High Court, Leila Seth to name a few. “I conducted the convocation for both the batches as I had incurred a loss. I chose the discarded open-air theatre as it would form the perfect backdrop for this event. I wanted Anil Kapoor as the Chief Guest and approached him. I found it difficult to convince him as he peaked in his filmi career. He had not come to the studio for over six months. I informed him the convocation will have both the batch students, which excited him and he said he would come for the remarkable event.” By that time, word of mouth had spread about the gala convocation to the nearby studios, where work had just begun. Each time a film star arrived in the Film City, the news would spread to different sectors of Noida and people would swarm outside our studio. And as expected, the ecstatic crowd outside is complemented by the dignitaries on stage. Anil Kapoor came and stood witness to the huge assembled crowd which included 90 students, 100 parents, besides friends in the Film City. Students made a beeline to the studio despite their career commitments. “Well established students took out time from their career to come for the convocation. They still had high regard for me. I realized the role of a teacher in a student’s life as they could recall what they had learned three months ago. If you put your heart and mind into your studies, then it will be the lesson of a lifetime. I had not yet begun work as a teacher then but I could sense a change in my feelings, emotions, love, and respect when I met the students. A new feeling engulfed me for the first time.” -- This colorful event and rendezvous with students inspired Sandeep Marwah to expand his vision in the field of education. “My passion for cinema grew manifold while this huge congregation benefitted me as it became an eye-opener to my critics. Our true commitment and contribution to the field of education got due recognition from all quarters, except the detractors. A few critics which included a friend of Sadan Malik even came up with the accusation that he ran a racket. We invited all such critics to the studio and took them around the academy to introduce them to our syllabus to get first-hand information about our course, fest, club, research center, and convocation. It turned out as a visual treat for their eyes and got so impressed that they jointed my board.” --- Over time, classes progressed into the third, fourth, and fifth batches in the same pattern with changes in the curriculum, equipment, faculty, and visiting faculty. And by this time the studio grew manifold with a consistent film shoot. “The influx of new channels, shoots, shows, and programs became the order of the day with a huge demand for studios. Zee shot their first program `Dream Merchants’ with 52 episodes in our studio. In the summer of 93, they planned another new program `Aap Ki Adalat’ with well-known journalist Rajat Sharma. I knew Rajat, from Delhi University days when we had both fought elections together in 1975, for ABVP. We would talk about popular TV shows. Rajat got elected as a secretary while the DUSU president Vijay Kumar Goel went on to become a minister in the PMO.” Rajat needed space and confine himself to a room before the program. “We spent a lot of time to erect the huge permanent sets for Rajat’s program while the technicians set up the lights. Rajat had a good command over the language. It is easy to impress politicians to join the set, but how do we have a talk show without an audience? We had to run helter-skelter and gather people from Noida. At times, technicians and even our gardener sat in the show. We used to rope shopkeepers from Sector 18 and shoot with live television. Rajat had two shoots in a week and I arranged the audience for him. I used to even break the batch of 58 students from AAFT and seat them on the floor of the set. This benefited both as students got exposed to six hours shoot while Rajat got an audience without payment.” The end
