Govt to digitalise all films in archive

“Digitalisation of our film heritage has been identified as our thrust area. The ordinary person should be able to buy DVDs of old movies, including the films made by FD, which has historical footage of events like Jawaharlal Nehru’s Trust With Destiny speech,” I&B Minister Ambika Soni said here on Friday.

As many as 6,000 out of 8,000-odd films made by FD over the years had already been digitalised, while the process of restoration and digitalisation of films with NFAI had also started, she said. Digitalisation of films made by CFSI was also on the cards, the minister added.

The urgency of the restoration and digitalisation of films seems to have come after the revelation that significant number of reels of old films at NFAI has got damaged over the years.

According to a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha on July 27 by Minister of State for I&B S Jagathrakshakan, NFAI had “weeded out” 15,565 reels last year, after they had been declared “unserviceable” by an NFAI-constituted committee.

A detailed action plan on the digitalisation of films is expected to be announced by Soni on September 19 in Mumbai, where she will address a meeting organised by CII on “Reel World and the Law,” ministry sources said. Soni said her ministry had received enthusiastic response from various ministries and state governments.

DH News Service