Museum to showcase national film heritage

Recently, the Planning Commission of India allotted Rs 660 crore for a proposed National Film Heritage Mission for the preservation of films, vintage equipments, costumes, properties, posters and stills among others. The Information & Broadcasting Ministry has now started the process of collecting such classic film properties.

Says Vijay Jadav, director of the National Film Archive, Pune, “Someone who owns the cap and muffler used by Dev Anand in Guide has agreed to donate it to the proposed museum. We are targetting people who have such memorabilia but not the space and the resources to keep them properly.” Prem Sagar admits that many such properties used in his late father Ramanand Sagar’s films like Arzoo, including Sadhana’s churidar-kurta designed by Bhanu Athaiya, are lost.

But he says that V Shantaram had kept even the false moustaches used in his films. Ditto for Raj Kapoor.

The ministry plans to approach RK Studio for properties like the doll in Mera Naam Joker, the ‘dafli’ in Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai and the bagpipe in Sangam.

The government has allocated Rs 116.40 crore for setting up the Museum of Moving Images (MOMI) in the Films Division complex in Mumbai. Gulshan Mahal, built in 1834, will be renovated as a venue for exhibition.

The new museum block will house cinema theatres, an amphitheatre, a demo studio and store space.