Chennai:

The city-based Prasad Corporation has taken up work on preserving nearly 1.5 lakh film reels stored at the National Film Archive of India (NFAI), Pune. The reels in storage are a part of thousands of films of various languages that were collected by NFAI from all corners of the country over the last five decades. The preservation project was launched by the Union information and broadcasting ministry at a cost of Rs 597 crore in January as part of the National Film Heritage Mission.

The reels are currently preserved in temperature and humidity-controlled vaults. Prasad Corporation has deployed a large team of trained experts to categorise film reels depending on their physical and chemical conditions. The films would then be catalogued and tagged with radio-frequency identification (RFID) so as to be able to track them with ease in future.

NFAI awarded the first-of-its-kind project to a consortium headed by Prasad Corporation. Other companies involved are L’Immagine Ritrovata, Italy and Miljoy Inc, USA.

Prasad Corporation director Kavita Prasad said, “We have employed world-class professionals to ensure this project becomes a benchmark for similar efforts in other countries.” The service provider, which has offices in USA, UK, Germany and Japan, has digitally restored more than 400 Hollywood classics that include Academy Award and Golden Globe winners.

The National Film Heritage Mission is an initiative to preserve, conserve, digitise and restore films collected by NFAI.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Chennai News / TNN / October 27th, 2017