GD Naidu – The Edison of India, a biopic tracing the life and times of the great inventor of India, GD Naidu has won the Best Science & Technology Film Award at the 66th National Film Awards announced on 9th August, 2019 in New Delhi. Produced by Films Division and directed by debutant film maker, K RanjitKumar, the film has won Rajat Kamal and cash award of Rs. 50000 each for the Producer and Director.
The well-researched documentary traces, with the help of well preserved footage from the personal collection of the inventor himself, the life and times of the versatile genius who despite poverty and poor education, went on to become an entrepreneur par excellence and inventor of many machines, tools and devices – electrical, mechanical and agricultural. He is credited with establishing the first Polytechnic college in India. The film is enriched various scientists, industrialists and eminent persons speaking about the unique endeavours and inventions of Naidu, popularly known as the Edison of India.
The film has been selected and screened at the Indisches Film Festival-2019, Stuttgart, Germany and is travelling to many international film festivals as official entry by Films Division.
As part of 73rd Independence Day Celebrations, Films Division is organizing a specially curated two days Freedom Film Festival Kahani Azadi Ki showcasing films on freedom struggle and freedom fighters. The festival will be held on 14th and 15th August, 2019 at the Jahangir Bhownagary auditorium, Films Division Complex, Pedder Road, Mumbai. Noteworthy documentary films made by FD and films sourced from Gandhi Films Foundation will be screened during the festival.
Kahani Azadi Ki will be inaugurated by Usha Thakkar, Hon. Director, Institute of Research on Gandhian Thought and Rural Development and Hon. Secretary, Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sangrahalaya, Mumbai on 14th August, 2019 at 3:00 p.m. Rama Khandwala, nonagenarian freedom fighter and the only living ‘Rani’ of the famed Jhansi Rani Regiment of Indian National Army led by Subhash Chandra Bose in erstwhile Rangoon will grace the event as Guest of Honour.
Usha Thakkar, a Fullbright scholar known for her insightful academic pursuits leading to the seminal work, Understanding Gandhi co-authored with Jayshree Mehta, has served SNDT University as Professor and HoD of Political Science. As for Rama Khandwala, widely respected INA veteran and a National Award winning tourist guide, her biographical montage Elephants Do Remember produced by Films Division will be screened after the inaugural function.
Students from various colleges in Mumbai have been specially invited to the film festival for inculcating in them patriotic fervor and craving to lead as architects of the modern India while taking inspiration from the great saga of Independence.
Films Division cordially invites all to be part of the Independence Day celebration, and screenings. The schedule of the event, entry to which is free, is available on www.filmsdivision.org.
Festival & Outreach Cell
Films Division
022-23551410. 23551411
Films Division, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India in association with Indian Documentary Producer’s Association (IDPA), as part of new initiative to promote documentary films, is launching a documentary film club “KSHITIJ”, which will organize fortnightly public screening of acclaimed documentary films on 2nd and 4th Friday of the every month @ 5:00pm-6:30pm at FD Complex, followed by short interaction by audience with the director of the film/ curator.
The docu film club “KSHITIJ”, will be inaugurated by Hon. Minister of state for Urban Development, Govt. of Maharashtra Shri Yogesh Sagar in the presence of noted film maker Arunaraje Patil and Mrinal Kulkarni on 12th July -2019 @ 5:00p.m at Audi-I, New Museum Building, Films Division Complex, Mumbai. Acclaimed documentary film “Secret Life of Frogs”, by Ajay & Vijay Bedi will be screened as inaugural film.
Films Division, established in 1948, has been relentlessly striven to maintain a record of the social, political and cultural imaginations and realities of the country on film. For more than last seven decades, It has actively worked in encouraging and promoting a culture of film-making in India that respects individual vision and social commitment. It holds more than 8000 titles including priceless INRs (Indian News Review), documentaries, short films and animation films.
It is requested to cover the news item so that people can enjoy and participate in the film screening.
Films Division
“publicity@filmsdivision.org”
022-23551410/ 23533275
The Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu has visited the National Museum of Indian Cinema, in Mumbai today, and said that Exhibits at the museum would take the visitors down the memory lane of their favorite movies, actors and the music.
Shri Naidu said that Cinema being the most loved and watched platform by the almost every Indian, can act as an instrument of social change. He observed that there was a need to inform, educate, empower and enlighten the lovers of cinema through good, moral and educative themes.
In a Facebook post (Link given below) Shri Naidu penned his experiences after visiting the state of the art museum that celebrates and rejoices the legacy of the great mass media platform.
Link: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=442469006321018&id=167328870501701
The National Museum of Indian Cinema has acquired a rare collection of around 200 cameras and other artefacts, including an original rare Magic Lantern with glass slide / frame and a replica of the telescope used by Neil Armstrong, the first man to land on the moon. These artefacts have been donated to NMIC by Ms. Shobha Nayyar, daughter of Late Shri Kahan Chand Nayyar, who was a passionate amateur photographer and an IAS officer of the Maharashtra cadre.
The other items of donation include an 8 MM portable projector, a vintage flash gun, polaroid cameras, Bencini Comet III Camera, Coronet Midget (a tiny box camera), Munchen Antique Miniature Camera, Benecini Koroll 24S & Field Camera, a Baldalux Folding camera made by Blada in the 1950s, Mamiya Camera made during the 1940s and an 8 mm Spool Film Camera made in 1954.
Speaking on the occasion, Ms. Shobha Nayyar said: “My father was a collector of books and cameras; our house was full of both. It took me around 2-3 years to study all the cameras my father had collected, to learn to use them and to catalogue them. I have always wanted that my father’s invaluable collection of film-related equipment finds its place in a museum of the stature of NMIC, which will preserve it and make it available for the masses. I am happy that the process of handing over these items could be completed in just 47 days. I am very happy that my father’s name too is there.”
Addressing the media on this occasion, Director General of Films Division, Shri Prashant Pathrabe said:
“The collection donated by Ms. Nayyar is a very big and rare collection. We are very delighted that she has taken the decision to share it with the Museum.
Through the media, I make an appeal to the film fraternity, especially the senior members of the industry, to donate historical film artefacts to the museum, so that the whole society would benefit from it.”
While exhorting the general public to visit the museum, Shri Pathrabe said that NMIC has reached out to various schools, colleges and educational institutions, encouraging them to undertake study visits. He informed about plans to start a library containing film-related books and old copies of film magazines.
Shri Pathrabe further said: “We are keen on arranging film screenings together with National Film Archive of India. NMIC showcases the 100-year history of Indian Cinema; while the focus of the Museum is on classical cinema, the Museum will try to cater to popular cinema. Efforts are being made to augment the collection of artefacts on regional cinema as well.”
The DG also announced that NMIC has acquired the oldest and finest collection of film costumes, properties, posters and literature from iconic Bengali films which were in the possession of M/s. Aurora Film Corporation, one of the oldest film production-distribution companies in Kolkata. The collection includes a number of original costumes and properties which were used in well-known Bengali films such as Jalsaghar, Bhagini Nivedita, Raja Rammohan, Arogya Niketan; booklets of the films Pather Panchali, Sada Nander Mela, Debdut Dakaterhathe, Arogya Niketan, Jalsaghar; posters of the films Moyna Tdanta, Ora Thakey Odharey, Harish Chandra. and Duronto Joy. These artefacts not only reflect the era of discovery of a new form of entertainment in Indian cinema, but also incorporate devotion and experimentation of a group of dedicated persons who were the real architects behind this form of entertainment.
Referring to the donation by Ms. Nayyar, Nodal Officer, (NMIC), Shri Anil Kumar said that it is very difficult to get such a rare collection from a single source.
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