The government-owned Films Division’s over 8,100 documentaries that present a record of India’s journey from Independence struggle till now, are finding a new lease of life — thanks to the massive digitalisation in progress.
The Films Division has already digitalised about 6,000 of its 8,100 documentaries over the years in its first phase of the venture. It has even archived the films using latest technology.

Many of these documentaries are now being made available to the public through VCDs that can be bought from the Films Division, its chief producer Mr Kuldeep Sinha said here on Tuesday.

Once the celluloid films are digitalised, the Films Division, in its second phase of archiving will take up preservation of all celluloid films made by it over the years.

The Films Division also plans to resuscitate the sound tracks of many historic films, as many of them have seen the tracks cracking over the years, Mr Sinha said.

Meanwhile, the Films Division has proposed to set up an institute of film studies in Mumbai.

The proposal, along with permission to start the publication of video textbooks for students and to set up production centres in North-East India and Jammu & Kashmir, are pending with the Information & Broadcasting Ministry, Mr Sinha said.

FD is also working towards ensuring that multiplexes in the country showed its films. Incidentally, even though it is mandatory for all single screen theatres to screen FD films before the screening of any feature film, most of the theatres violate the rule with impunity.

Mr Sinha expressed FD’s helplessness in this regard as the authority to implement this regulation lay with the state governments. “There is definitely some laxity in the implementation,” he said.

FD is also starting a quarterly magazine called “Documentary Today”, which would be launched during the opening ceremony of “Swatantrata Filmotsav”, a festival of films on the freedom movement starting in the capital on August 11.