The information and broadcasting ministry is mounting a Rs 660 crore National Film Heritage Mission to restore and preserve for eternity the Indian movie classics by digitising them before their prints are lost for ever. The mission is proposed to be completed by 2013 – to coincide with the Indian film industry's completion of 100 years.

The National Film Archives of India (NFAI) as well as the Films Division have already been conducting preservation of the archival films, but I&B minister Ambika Soni felt the exercise should be put into a mission mode to fast-track digitisation of the films as they are an integral part of India's socio-cultural heritage.

Digitisation for preservation was felt the best method after the ministry got a report on a number of films getting lost forever because of the various constraints NFAI faces in maintain them. There are more than 5,000 films in the achieves of the Pune-based NFAI.

As many of these films are not available to public any more, part of the mission will be to explore the public-private partnership route to commercially sell their CDs. The ministry is even contemplating to make the films available online for viewing with the help of NFAI, Films Division, NFDC and the Children's Film Society.

Sources said Soni is also considering another project to preserve huge archival material available with the All India Radio and Doordarshan. Both have rich original recordings of music, drama, documentaries, speeches, plays and historical footage that can be useful for the future generations and researchers. Their upkeep at the moment is also in shambles because of which much material may have become unusable, the sources added.