Mumbai, Jan 15 : Showcasing India's rich film
heritage over the past 100 years, the National Museum of India Cinema
(NMIC) will open in Mumbai next month, Information & Broadcasting
Minister Manish Tewari has said.
Situated over a 6,000 square
feet area in Gulshan Mahal, a heritage building on posh Pedder Road in
south Mumbai, it will house an interactive walkthrough down memory lane
of India cinema, now considered the biggest in the world.
"As
Indian cinema enters a new century, the NMIC will be a small tribute of
the ministry to the great film heritage of the country. We have also
launched a Rs.6 billion National Film Heritage Mission to digitize the
best of Indian cinematic works and archive them for the benefit of
future generations," Tewari said at the Life OK Screen Awards in Mumbai
late Tuesday.
The NMIC will be part of a larger complex of 50,000
sq.feet that will come up at the same premises in phases, the minister
added.
He said it would serve as a 'ready-reckoner' of Indian
cinema history showcasing technological aspects of production and
screening of films as well as the social aspects during the past 100
years of its existence.
"Through interactive galleries, it will
trace the evolution of celluloid from the Lumiere Brothers, Raja
Harishchandra onwards, and showcase Indian cinema in three stages: the
silent era, golden era and modern era," Tewari explained.
It will
portray the footsteps of Indian cinema right from the silent films to
the studio period, then recreate the times when stars and mega-stars
dominated the silver screen.
Visitors to the NMIC can also watch
clips of old classics on several monitors, listen to rare film music
from the past, view the poster collection of landmark movies. A section
on regional cinema will also be there.
The NMIC has got
donations of equipment from famous yesteryears studios like Mehboob
Studios, RK Studios and Prasad Studios besides private collectors.
The
Films Division, set up in 1941 to produce short films to disseminate
information during war time, has also given its old Eymo and Mitchel
cameras and recording equipment. There are exhibits of even older
instruments that created an illusion of movement, which were the
precursor to the movie camera.
An advisory committee headed by
filmmaker Shyam Benegal guided the Films Division in establishing the
NMIC and it will be curated by the National Council of Science Museums,
Kolkata, under the ministry of culture that managed 55 different kinds
of museums in India.