I&B ministry keen to restore celluloid treasures
Buoyed by the success of the national manuscripts mission, the UPA government is planning to launch another programme aimed at restoring old films.
Pratul Sharma
UPDATED: May 31, 2010 09:50 IST
The project, conceived by the ministry of information and broadcasting, will be called National Film Heritage Mission.
Sources said the planning commission has in principle approved Rs 660 crore for this project.
Though the preservation and conservation of archival material, including films, is done by institutions like the National Films Archives of India (NFAI), the ministry feels the entire project be put in mission mode to fast-track it.
Sources said I& B minister Ambika Soni is keen to push the project forward.
Currently, films, considered an integral part of the nation's socio-cultural heritage, are preserved with the NFAI, while documentaries are kept with the Films Division, NFDC and private libraries.
However, a number of films are getting lost forever following constraints in preservation and digitisation. The NFAI currently has over 5,000 films and efforts are on to see that they do not meet the same fate as the first talkie, Alam Ara , which has been lost forever.
As many of these films are not available commercially, the project will also involve exploring the commercial aspect of making these films available to the public. For this, the public-private partnership route will be explored.
Sources said that after the old films are digitised, they can also be made available online for viewing. The nodal agency for this purpose will be the NFAI, while the Films Division, NFDC and Children's film Society, will provide the necessary support.
The National Film Heritage Mission will aim to finish the project within a set timeframe. Moreover, the mission is rightly timed as the film industry will complete 100 years in 2013.
Sources said Soni is also considering launching another project to preserve the huge unexplored archival material lying with the All India Radio and Doordarshan.
Both these units have original recordings of music, drama, documentaries, speeches, plays and historical footage that could be of use to future generations.
For sports news, updates, live scores and cricket fixtures, log on to indiatoday.in/sports. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for Sports news, scores and updates.