On April 4, the Supreme Court asked Ghai to return the land in Mumbai, measuring 20 acres, to the state government and also rapped the former Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh over the allotment.
"It is important to smile in crises. When we smile, the crises will run away. If we want to protest, we must celebrate. It is important to change all the negativity into positivity," Ghai said, at the celebration of 100 years of cinema at the Whistling Woods today.
The institute has organised a three-day event 'Cinema100'.
"When my students came to me and told me they wanted to protest because of our crisis, I asked them what their protest will bring. One of them said they wanted to celebrate the 100 years of cinema and I readily agreed. I told them they should tell people what they have learnt and communicate. This is not an attempt to make the government change its decision. We are celebrating this for us," Ghai said.
The event saw the presence of ace music director A R Rahman, actor Randhir Kapoor, veteran lyricist Gulzar among others.
"Subhash Ghai has inspired me to start my own institution of music. I hope they (Whistling Woods) have a glorious future. I am sure many talented students from here will make the world of films and arts very proud," Rahman said.
Kapoor said, "Cinema has completed 100 years and I want it to lastlonger. Throughout its 100 years it has given livelihood to so many artists. There are so many outsiders... People with no filmy background have done well like Subhash Ghai and SRK. If you do good work, you will succeed."
"I think today's generation is very fortunate to have schools like Whistling Woods. We had nothing. This is just the first phase of Indian cinema," said Gulzar.
