IFFK hosted a special evening in Thiruvananthapuram, celebrating the legacy of Jagat Murari, with two esteemed FTII alums: award-winning filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Oscar-winner Dr. Resul Pookutty.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India, Dec. 19, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Dr. Resul Pookutty, the Oscar-winning sound designer, and Adoor Gopalakrishnan, the legendary filmmaker, joined author Radha Chadha to release her latest book ‘The Maker of Filmmakers‘ at an event hosted by the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK).
Radha Chadha’s book, ‘The Maker of Filmmakers: How Jagat Murari and FTII Changed Indian Cinema Forever’, traces the remarkable life and legacy of her father, Jagat Murari, the visionary who built the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII). Published by Penguin India, the book follows Murari’s journey in shaping many of India’s most influential filmmakers.
“It is the Festival’s honour to release a book like this,” said Resul Pookutty, who is IFFK’s Festival Director and Chairperson of the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy. “He [Murari] not only gave us the Institute, but also gave us a very illustrious daughter who could chronicle it for us, for the generation of filmmakers to come, to imbibe this true spirit of cinema.”
Adoor Gopalakrishnan spoke insightfully about the book, saying, “I particularly congratulate Radha for this excellent book. It’s very well-written and it’s well-researched.” He recalled Jagat Murari’s influence on his own creative path. “But for the Film Institute, there was no chance of me ever becoming a filmmaker. Who was responsible for the Film Institute? It was my own great Murari saheb; He was a father figure to us students.”
C. Ajoy, the Executive Director of IFFK and Secretary of the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, reflected on Jagat Murari’s far-reaching impact, saying, “We have two institutions that changed Indian cinema. One was, of course, FTII, and the other one – Jagat Murari saheb. His life and work as a pioneer of documentary filmmaking, as a part of Directorate of Film Festivals, as a Director of FTII, as part of NFAI…you will be able to walk through this book.”
The panel included Sunny Joseph, the esteemed cinematographer and FTII alum. “What the Institute did to me is something magical. FTII made me a world citizen,” he said.
“There were a very high calibre of names that taught at the Institute, and the scale was enormous,” said Radha Chadha. While writing the book, she unearthed an archive of material her father had left behind – documents, letters, and rare photographs that revealed FTII’s foundational years. “The impact on the students, of course, was extraordinary. Not only did they learn from the best minds, but just seeing these stalwarts in the flesh, breathing the same air, had a ‘role model’ effect. The kind of thinking was ‘If Ismail Merchant and James Ivory can do it, surely I can, too’.”
Talking of his time at FTII, Resul Pookutty said, “When I walked into the Film Institute, when I saw those hanging roots of the Banyan trees, and the low, winding road from the main gate to the boys’ hostel, I knew that I am standing in a place which has a history, which has a time imprinted on it. When I flipped through the pages of this book, [I had the same feeling]… I was taken through those pages of cinema, pages of frozen time.”
Pookutty shared how the book threw light on Murari’s educational vision, which informed the workings of FTII. “It was quite a fascinating read, what this man was, how he made the gospel, and gave us such illustrious people. Very apt name – ‘The Maker of Filmmakers’.”
About the Book
When Jagat Murari, a young film student in post-war America, found himself at the feet of one of cinema’s true giants—Orson Welles—during the making of Macbeth in 1947, the lessons he absorbed on that set shaped not only his future but the future of Indian cinema. Returning to a newly independent India, Jagat went on to build the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) from the ground up.
In The Maker of Filmmakers, Radha Chadha offers an intimate and meticulously researched portrait of her father—a celebrated documentary filmmaker—and the iconic film school he built. With uncanny consistency, FTII turned out top talent—Jaya Bachchan and Shabana Azmi, Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Subhash Ghai, Shatrughan Sinha and Mani Kaul, and other cinema legends. His alumni became the leading names of Bollywood and beyond. They spearheaded the Indian New Wave, kick-started regional language cinema and helped usher television into the country.
How did Jagat go about ‘making’ such extraordinary filmmakers? What was his secret formula? A gripping story of ambition, adversity and artistic brilliance—richly illustrated with rare photographs—The Maker of Filmmakers paints a vivid picture of how one man’s vision and determination helped turn Indian cinema into the global powerhouse it is today.
About the Author, Radha Chadha
Radha Chadha is an author, columnist, speaker and one of Asia’s foremost experts on marketing and consumer insights. Her book The Cult of the Luxury Brand: Inside Asia’s Love Affair with Luxury was a bestseller, and is the go-to book for understanding luxury in Asia. After two decades at top advertising agencies—Ogilvy, JWT, Grey and Bates Asia—she founded her own brand consultancy in Hong Kong. For over a decade, Radha also wrote a widely read column for Mint, one of India’s leading business newspapers. She holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and a BA from St Stephen’s College, Delhi.
Radha grew up on the campus of the Film and Television Institute of India, where her father, Jagat Murari, shaped a generation of filmmakers.
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