Union information and broadcasting minister Ambika Soni has sought the early establishment of the National Film Heritage Mission. Sources stated that the minister made this assertion at the consultative committee meeting where this issue was discussed at length.
“She asked for a detailed roadmap to be prepared and called for the detailed project report to be submitted immediately. She also asked the ministry officials to work on the project in a time bound manner,” sources stated.
The project, which has been cleared by the Planning Commission recently, aims to preserve and conserve the films produced in the country. The project has a budget of Rs 660 crore and has been in initiated in an effort to celebrate the centenary of Indian cinema in 2013. Official sources stated that the National Film Heritage Mission was proposed as the I&B minister had wanted to fast-track the preservation and conservation of archival material, including films, in the country.
“The minister believes that integration of rich wealth of heritage of films in the country is necessary and it can only be done through National Film Heritage Mission,” sources stated.
Currently, several organisations like NFAI, Films Division, NFDC and private libraries are involved in such work. However, with the establishment of National Film Heritage Mission the work is expected to be centralised and more organised.
The National Film Heritage Mission will aim to finish the project within a set time frame. Moreover, the mission is rightly timed as the film industry will complete 100 years in 2013.
The attempt follows other such attempts by the I&B ministry to conserve and preserve the archival assets in the possession of the country. The ministry had recently announced the conservation of archives with the All India Radio and Doordarshan. Amongst the rich archival material in the possession of these two broadcasters are speeches by various Prime Ministers, Presidents, leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel and thousands of hours of recording of classical and folk music. Sources stated that the plan is to preserve the broadcasts.