National Film Archive of India NFAI (NFDC-NFAI), Pune

Overview

The National Film Archive of India (NFAI) is the national film archive of the Republic of India, headquartered in Pune, Maharashtra. It was established to trace, acquire, preserve, and provide access to India's cinematic heritage and a representative collection of world cinema, and to serve as a center for the dissemination of film culture. In March 2022, NFAI was merged with the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC), and now operates as NFDC-NFAI.

History and Founding

NFAI was established in February 1964 as a media unit of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. It was founded and developed largely through the efforts of P. K. Nair, an Indian film archivist who is often called the Henri Langlois of India for his lifelong dedication to film preservation. Under Nair's leadership, NFAI built up a collection of over 12,000 films by the time of his retirement in April 1991, of which approximately 8,000 were Indian productions. NFAI became a member of the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) in 1969. In January 2003, a fire destroyed hundreds of irreplaceable nitrate-base films in the NFAI vault, including works by pioneering filmmaker Dadasaheb Phalke. The institution's own purpose-built vaults in Pune were inaugurated in 1994.

Collections and Holdings

NFDC-NFAI's holdings include films on celluloid across multiple formats, as well as an extensive Research and Documentation Section comprising 203,287 still photographs, 40,919 film posters, 24,797 song booklets, and approximately 228,025 press clippings. The book library at the Phase I premises on Law College Road holds over 29,000 volumes on cinema, along with thousands of film scripts, periodicals, and film magazines. Nineteen state-of-the-art preservation vaults at the Pune facilities can accommodate nearly 200,000 film reels.

Access and Usage

Researchers, students, and scholars are welcomed at the Book Library and Research Centre at Law College Road, Pune. NFAI also organizes film screenings and maintains a distribution library for film societies. The Research Section's photo and paper collections have been digitized to minimize handling of original materials.