Pune-based National Film Archives of India (NFAI) has shortlisted over 440 classic Indian films for digitisation and restoration in the next 12-18 months. These include films like Hindustan Ki Kasam, Kala Bazaar, Bawarchi, Chori Chori, Kaagaz ke Phool, Pyasa and Mausam. With this move, the works of iconic actors including Amitabh Bachchan, Rajesh Khanna, Dev Anand, Gurudutt, Sanjeev Kumar and several others are all set to enter digital after-life.

The move comes after the original prints of several classics like Raja Harishchandra and Alam Ara amongst others went beyond restoration. According to sources, the original prints of these movies are in a bad state.

Film restoration involves rescuing the decaying film stock and preserving the images on it. Film restoration assures that a movie will continue to exist, as close to its original form as possible. Hollywood has successfully managed to restore several cult movies like The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Doctor Zivago, The Godfather, Superman and the Seven Samurai amongst others in recent times.

Sensing the urgency and the need to preserve these important national assets, the information and broadcasting ministry under Ambika Soni directed

NFAI to undertake one of the biggest digitalisation and film restoration exercise in recent times, sources said.

NFAI has a massive task at hand as it houses over 6,000 films. Once digitised and restored, some of these films will be made available on a pay-per-view model via broadband. The government is also looking to release such classics in select theaters, sources told FE.

These include iconic films of Gurudutt, Gulzar, and Hrishikesh Mukherjee to the timeless classics by V Shantaram, Satyajit Ray, Rithwik Ghatak, Adoor Gopalkrishnan, and Jahnu Barua amongst several others. The NFAI films made as early as early 1900. Out of this, NFAI is aiming to restore and digitise nearly 10% of the films within next 12-18 months. So far, it has managed to digitise nearly 150 films. It plans to complete the restoration of another 300 films in the next fiscal.