NFAI’s Jaykar Bungalow to reopen as digital film library next month

NFAI’s Jaykar Bungalow to reopen as digital film library next month

Pune: Jaykar Bungalow, located in the premises of National Film Archive of India (NFAI), which has been recently restored, will soon house a digital film library.

Film lovers in the city will be able to access the library from next month onwards, announced Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Prakash Javadekar at NFAI on Sunday. 

He was present at the Archive premise to review the ‘National Film Heritage Mission’ (NFHM), Union government’s celluloid film conservation programme that has an investment of Rs 597 crore.

“Modi government is serious about preserving India’s rich cinema history. The Jaykar Bangalow will have a digital library with easy access for film lovers to the book and film library, documentation section, non-film material among other things at NFAI,” said Javadekar.

The digital library will also provide a personalised film viewing space for those wanting to study the films. Presently, the viewers can use the steenbeck tables or screen the film in the auditorium to view it. 

The researchers have to pay Rs 150-hour rent for using the steenbeck table and Rs 2,000 per hour to use the auditorium. An additional fee of Rs 100 per reel for B&W film and Rs 200 for the colour film is also charged.

“NFAI will soon start the construction work for building new film vaults at the 3-acre land plot that it acquired last year from Film and Television Institute of India (FTII). More films cannot be stored at the Archive presently because there’s a shortage of space since all the vaults here are full. The additional vaults will address this issue, so the work for those will commence soon,” Javadekar added.

Jaykar Bungalow was built in 1945 and was once home to Barrister Mukundrao Ramrao Jayakar, the first vice-chancellor of the University of Pune. 

Later, it was handed over to the FTII where it became the residence of the Institute’s Director Jagat Murari. Briefly, the building was also used as a girls’ hostel before becoming the office of the NFAI in 1973. Today, it is classified as a Grade I heritage structure by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC).

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