History

The National Film Archive of India (NFAI), established in 1964, is today recognised as the major film archive in the Asian region. Due to the NFAI, some of the high standards of film making, past and present, have filtered down, resulting in a belief that the medium has not only an obligation but a mission, to convert their viewers to believe that this popular art and culture is as significant as any other performing art and culture is as significant as any other performing art.

Ideally situated, Pune was selected as the home of the National Film Archives of India. Located on Law College Road, in the Jayakar Bungalow of the Right Honorable Mukund Ramrao Jaykar, the first Vice Chancellor of Pune, popularly known as M.R. Jayakar during the freedom struggle days. The late Jaykar became the first the first VC of Pune University when it was founded in 1948.

The exquisitely designed bungalow with wooden flooring, a narrow wooden staircase, typical of British architecture and massive bookshelves that stretch on almost to the roof, which he built opposite the Bhandarkar Institute also became instrumental in the Bhandarkar Institute becoming the birth place of Pune University. The Jayakar bungalow has over the years maintained a tradition of being a House of Treasures, with the added dimension of having a collection of well known films from all over the world.

The facilities at the NFAI are on par with those of the West. Andrew Robinson, a western biographer on Ray, visited Pune in 1987 and said: "It is Satyajit Ray's films that have brought me to Pune. I am writing a biography of Ray and Pune is the only place in the world where one can see all - well almost all - his films together...in a dingy room of the National Film Archives, almost squeezed by cans of films."

Today, NFAI has the largest film collection in Asia. Every year the Archives are making headway in the acquisition, preservation and exhibition of rare film material from all over the world to people from different walks of life.

Thanks to the NFAI, today, we know about Dada Sahib Phalke, a pioneer in the field of Indian movies. For most of his ninety seven films he wrote the stories and screenplays as well as directed, photographed, processed and edited himself. He was the master of trick photography in mythological films, Bhasmasur Mohini, Bhakta Prahlad, Setubandhan, Krishan Jamuna and so on. Through the NFAI we also know how the first reel of the first Indian feature film was salvaged from right under his bed, many years after the death of the father of Indian cinema. And how the man who brought cinema to India, ``One morning, February 16, 1944 on the banks of the Godavari quietly passed away, unmourned and unsung."

The House of Treasures, today has 10,304 films, 14,678 books related to the film world, 214 regular film periodicals, 14,264 film scripts, 5,658 pamphlets, 55,406 photographs, 5,131 wall posters, 1,752 disc records and 31 audio tapes in the form of cinema history through interviewing veterans on the evolution of the Indian film industry.

The NFAI has brought out monographs of eminent film makers like Sukhdev, Ritwik Ghatak, Damle and Fatela. A valuable reference guide for all feature films made in the country with cast, credits and brief synopsis was compiled by B.V. Dharap. Through the NFAI the works of great film makers like Dada Saheb Phalke, Debaki Bose, V. Shantaram, P.C. Barua, Mahboob Khan, Sohrab Modi, Guru Dutt, Satyajit Ray, Raj Kapoor, Mrinal Sen, Sukdev, S.S. Vasan and many more are easily accessible.

Among the foreign films the NFAI has acquired, films of D.W. Griffith, Carl Dryer, Sergei Eienstien, V.I. Pudovkin, Jean Luc Godard, Bergman, Roberto Rosselini, Alexander Dovzkenko, Fritz Lang, Robert Flaherty, Vittorio De Sica, Frederico Fellini, Kenji Mitzoguchi, Akira Kurosawa, Robert Bresson and many more.

Indian cinema had a wealth of talent in every sphere of film making, cast, crew and craft. The intelligensia of the country showed their creativity and aroused social awareness through this medium. The ultimate human figure became the landmark in their films for the audience. K.L. Saigal, Durga Khote, Chandra Mohan, Motilal, Devika Rani, Ashok Kumar, K.C. Dey, Shanta Apte, Sulochana, Keshav Rao Date, Vanamala, Madhubala, Meena Kumari, Pahari Sanyal, Prithvi Raj, Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar and many of the present age portrayed this admirably.

Today, the NFAI has in its possession all these sepia memories. The House of Treasures' is not just a storage place of art material nor is it merely a museum. It is an active cultural centre. Attending the eight-week Film Appreciation Course conducted by the NFAI is more than merely viewing films. Each film shown is discussed in depth, every aspect studied by a cross section of people. The University Grants Commission has recognised its importance and has introduced this course as a subject of study in some Indian universities.

In 1993, NFAI opened its new centrally air-conditioned building complex. It houses three basement film vaults with a capacity to store 60,000 film reels in the controlled temperature and humidity conditions required for archival storage. This will constitute a giant step forward for NFAI's film conservation, preservation and restoration activities. Film cleaning machines and new CTM viewing tables have also been recently acquired to strengthen the film preservation and checking sections.

Fostering serious thinking on cinema is the focus of NFAI's annual eight-week Film Appreciation Course in Pune, at which experts in film studies teach film history, film aesthetics and theory and allied subjects. NFL also regularly collaborates in organizing short-term film appreciation courses with other educational and cultural organizations in different parts of India.