Aimed at completing the digitalisation, preservation and restoration of all films lying with various governments and private agencies, the I&B Ministry has unveiled a National Film Heritage Mission with a corpus of Rs 660 crore.

The proposal, green-lighted by I&B Minister Ambika Soni who has been bullish over digitalisation of the entire film archives, would help in preserving the classic celluloid history of the country.

According to the ministry officials, the Planning Commission has given its in-principle approval to the proposal and has asked the ministry to prepare a detailed project report (DPR) along with the physical and financial parameters and phasing of expenditure of the entire process.

A ministry official said that Soni wants the entire process of digitalisation, preservation and restoration to be expedited on a mission mode, and thus the proposal was mooted through National Film Archives of India (NFAI), which would be nodal body for implementing this scheme.

The ministry, according to sources, is of the opinion that preservation of invaluable film heritage of the country which is an integral part of the nation's socio-cultural heritage, can be best done through this scheme.

Another reason behind starting this process on a mission mode is that Soni wants to soon announce a sunset date by which the entire process should be completed, the sources said.

The ministry would also be looking at monetising the digitally restored material through commercial means, which would be worked out at a later stage, they added. Apart from this, the digitalised and restored film material would be webcast.

Though Doordarshan and All India Radio have digitalised their archives to a great extent, a lot needs to be done in terms of film archiving, considering the fact that while only the first and last reel of Dadasaheb Phalke's 'Raja Harishchandra' are available with NFAI and the prints of India's first talkie film 'Alam Ara' were lost forever in a fire.