Restoring 648 feature films on mission mode: I&B Minister Anurag Thakur

The government is restoring 648 feature films and 755 short films under the National Film Heritage Mission (NFHM), it informed Parliament on Tuesday.

In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said the achievements under the NFHM include the collection assessment of 1,54,305 reels, their categorization under ''A'', ''B'' and ''C'' categories based on the extent of damage to reel material.

It also includes the digitization or scanning of a total of 1,491 film titles, including 648 feature films and 755 short films, the minister said.

One of the restored films, ''Pratidwandi'', directed by Satyajit Ray, was recently screened at the Cannes Film Festival, and another of his films, ''Shatranj Ke Khiladi'', has been selected for screening at the Venice International Film Festival, Thakur said.

The NFHM was launched in November 2014 as a planning scheme spread over from 2014-15 to 2020-21 at a total cost of Rs 597.41 crore. The NFHM was restructured on a mission mode and continued from 2021-22 to 2024-25 with an estimated outlay of Rs 544.82 crore.

The film reels assessed under the NFHM include a certain stock of rare film reels, both domestic and foreign, Thakur said.

He said these reels shall undergo the processes of digitization and restoration.

The digitization process envisages work broadly related to cleaning, scanning, and cataloging of film reels, Thakur said, adding that the restoration process entails the reduction or removal of damage or errors.

The digitization and restoration of content will ensure effective archiving of the film reels both in the physical format and the digital format, the minister said.