Pranav Devatha, a third-year BBA student at RV University, Bengaluru, has just shown what liberal education can do to students.
His movie ‘Death by Grades’ was recently screened at the Global Lift-Off Film Festival, and is scheduled to be screened in Berlin, Manchester, Tokyo, New York, Toronto, Los Angeles, Paris and London.
‘Death by Grades’ focuses on the problems that a student faces while preparing for competitive exams in India. It orients parents and students on the importance of looking beyond academics, and focus on mental wellbeing.
“The fulcrum of liberal education is to create platforms and opportunities for students to freely express their ambitions, inhibitions, fears and talents, without being judged,” Prof Subhashree Natarajan, dean, School of Business and School of Economics, RV University, told FE. “The programme structure at RV University is inclusive to cater to the interests and aspirations of students. We are impressed with what our interdisciplinary learning can lead to.”
Despite being a business student, Devatha was mentored by Piyush Roy, dean, School of Film, Media and Creative Arts, when he expressed his plans for the short movie. Roy, an Indian National Film award winning critic-columnist, organised workshops and arranged master classes on movie making and opened an opportunity to showcase Devatha’s film at the Teen Indie Film Awards (TIFA).
TIFA is the only platform for school and college students to showcase their creativity, ideation and celebrate excellence in film production.
Prof YSR Murthy, vice-chancellor, RV University, told FE that interdisciplinary learning can do wonders for a student’s career. “We are impressed with what our interdisciplinary learning can lead to,” he said. “A good undergraduate programme is not the one that keeps you awake at night, but the one that allows students to discover their hitherto unknown potentials, beyond their chosen calling.”