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 NFAI building | |
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| Established | February 1964[1] |
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| Location | Law College Rd, Deccan Gymkhana, Pune, Maharashtra 411004, India |
| Website | https://nfai.nfdcindia.com/ |
TheNational Film Archive of India (NFAI) was established as a media unit of theMinistry of Information and Broadcasting in February 1964.[2] It was a member of theInternational Federation of Film Archives.[3]
In March 2022, it was merged with theNational Film Development Corporation.[4]
Its three principal objectives are: to trace, acquire and preserve for posterity the heritage of Indian cinema; to classify, document data and undertake research relating to films; to act as a centre for the dissemination of film culture.[5]
With headquarters atPune,Maharashtra, NFAI had three regional offices atBangalore,Calcutta andThiruvananthapuram. Developed from scratch byP. K. Nair,[6] NFAI's activities related to the dissemination of film culture were manifold. Its distribution library consists of about 25 active members throughout the country and it also organizes joint screening programmes on a weekly, fortnightly and monthly basis in six important centres. The archive contains over 10,000 films, over 10,000 books, over 10,000 film scripts, and over 50,000 photographs.[7] Another important programme conducted by the archive is the film teaching scheme comprising long and short-term film appreciation courses conducted in collaboration with theFilm and Television Institute of India (FTII) and other educational and cultural institutions.[8] At the international level, NFAI has supplied several Indian classics for major screening programmes.[9]
The NFAI's archive keeps a stock of films, video cassettes, DVDs, books, posters, stills, press clippings, slides, audio CDs, and disc records of Indian cinema dating back to the 1910s.[7]
On 8 January 2003, a large fire caused a massive destruction in the vault of NFAI housed in the Prabhat Studio complex of FTII inPune, in which unduplicated irreplaceable films with anitrate base were destroyed.[10]Ravi Shankar Prasad the then Minister of State,Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India announced in theRajya Sabha that 607 films in 5,097 reels were lost in the fire.[11] Among the greatest loss were films byDadasaheb Phalke including:Raja Harishchandra (1913),Lanka Dahan (1917) andKaliya Mardan (1919). Important films produced byPrabhat Film Company,Wadia Movietone,Bombay Talkies andNew Theatres, were also gutted, namely:Bhakta Prahlada (1932),Amar Jyoti (1936),Manoos (1939),Aage Badho (1947) and others.[12]
In March 2019, theComptroller and Auditor General of India reported that 31,000 reels at the NFAI were reported lost or destroyed, when it audited the records between 1 May 2015, and 30 September 2017.[13]
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