Govt mulling international expertise in restoring classics

The government is mulling international expertise in the field of digitising and restoring classic films to assist National Film Archives of India in its efforts to preserve the country's cinematic heritage.
According to sources, though the National Film Archives of India (NFAI) is primarily working to preserve the movies of yesteryears, there was a view in the Information & Broadcasting Ministry that there a lot can be gained from the techniques employed by other agencies across the world.
Under the National Film Heritage Mission, the government is making efforts to digitise the movies of past to ensure that they are not lost forever.

The government had decided to preserve India's movie heritage as many classics including path-breaking movies like the first Indian talkie 'Alam Ara' have been lost forever, a source said.
The sources also said that film conservation work has been successfully in countries like the US, France and other countries and the expertise used there could help efforts in India.