National Museum of Indian Cinema Inaugurated

National Museum of Indian Cinema that will have detailed information about the history of Indian entertainment industry, along with tales of struggles of various film personalities, besides 30-hour-long digitised footage of World War II, depicting valour of 1.5 lakh Indian soldiers who died in that war, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Mumbai on Saturday 19 January 2019 and on the occasion said:

“ये म्‍यूजियम हमारी फिल्‍मों की तरह ही समृद्ध है। इसमें इतिहास का गौरव भी है और भविष्‍य की ऊर्जा भी है। इसमें प्राचीनता का मान भी है, इसमें आधुनिकता का सम्‍मान भी है। यहां गुलशन बहल का हिस्‍साहमारे इतिहास की गवाही दे रहा है तो दूसरी अत्‍याधुनिक इमारत हमारे दूरदर्शी होने का प्रणाम देती है। गुलशन बहल की इमारत में सिनेमा की शुरूआत की गौरव-गाथा है और मुझे बताया गया है कि म्‍यूजियम के इसी हिस्‍से में 30 घंटे की ऐसी फुटेज है जिसमें दूसरे विश्‍वयुद्ध में हमारी सेना के शौर्य को दिखाया गया है”

”This museum is as prosperous as our films. There is also the glory of history and the energy of the future. There is also the honour of ancientness in it; it also has respect for modernity. The part of Gulshan Mahal is evidencing our history, and the other state-of-the-art building gives us a glimpse of our visionary thinking. Gulshan Mahal building is pride of the beginning of cinema and I have been told that this part of the museum has 30 hours of footage in which the valour of our army is shown in World War II”.

A committee headed by Central Board of Film Certification Chief Prasoon Joshi helped upgrade National Museum of Indian Cinema (NMIC):

• Museum will take visitors on a journey from Silent era of the Indian cinema to the current hi-tech studios.
• Museum is built across two buildings: a five-storey new Museum building and Gulshan Mahal that is over 100 years old.
• Museum has four halls named: Gandhi and Cinema; Children’s Film Studio; Technology, Creativity and Indian Cinema and Cinema across India.
• Museum houses Artefacts, Cameras, Editing and Recording Machines, Projectors, Costumes, Photographs related to filmmaking in India.

Prime Minister in his address highlighted the global reach of Indian Cinema. He mentioned his interaction with various global leaders who can even sing Indian songs. Stating that film and society are reflections of each other, whatever happens in the society is reflected by the movies on screen while the images from the films are also mirrored in the society.

• Talking about trends he said there are many films now which depict both the problem and the solution which is a positive sign as compared to earlier years when only the helplessness was displayed.
• India is now confident of finding its own solutions to the problems it faces and this is a sign of a New India which is confident and capable of taking issues head on and resolving them.
• He extended best wishes to the film fraternity for creating the characters that have captured the imaginations of young generations.
• He said that due to global appeal of such characters, India’s youngsters are now not just fans of Batman, but also of Bahubali.
• Indian Cinema has a big role in enhancing India’s soft power, its credibility and building the Brand India across the world.
• Through Cinema important social issues such as sanitation, women empowerment, sports etc. are now reaching to people.
• Cinema plays an important role in nation Building and strengthens the feeling of Ek Bharat Shresth Bharat.
• Film Industry has a huge potential of contributing in growth of Tourism in the country.
• Government is working to provide facility of ‘Ease of Filming’ by putting in place a Single Window Clearance system, for Film Shooting approvals in different parts of the country.
• Government is working on amending Cinematograph Act 1952 to check the problem of Film Piracy.
• Government is also working towards setting up a National Centre for Excellence for Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics.
• A fully dedicated university for Communication and Entertainment is a need of hour and urged Film personalities to suggest and contribute on this.
• He also suggested the idea of Global Film Summit similar to Davos Summit which would focus on the expansion of market for Indian Cinema.

Various Bollywood celebrities including Manoj Kumar, Asha Bhosle, AR Rahman, Jeetendra, Randhir Kapoor, Aamir Khan, Kangana Ranaut,  Poonam Dhillion besides Simmba director Rohit Shetty and Zero director Aanand L Rai and producers Nikhil Dwivedi and Mahavir Jain, among others of the Indian film industry were in attendance at the function with I&B Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore & Central Board of Film Certification chief Prasoon Joshi at the inauguration of National Museum of Indian Cinema.