Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the National Museum of Indian Cinema (NMIC) here on Saturday at a 19th-century heritage bungalow standing cheek by jowl with an ultra-modern building in the country’s film capital. Modi went around the entire state-of-the-art NMIC complex, catching a glimpse of the absorbing journey of Indian cinema, covering more than a century of filmmaking, the most popular medium of storytelling, with the help of visuals, graphics, memorabilia, interactive exhibits, and multimedia expositions. Set up at a cost of Rs 140 crore, the NMIC will help viewers understand the glorious history of Indian films and help film students, filmmakers, fans and critics learn and understand about cinema as a medium of artistic expression in the country and globally.
The museum displays a collection of rare artifacts like vintage cameras, projectors, old and new editing, and recording equipment, costumes, photographs, and other materials since the dawn of Indian cinema in 1913 with the first full-length feature film “Raja Harischandra” made by the legendary Dhundiraj Govind Phadke, known as Dadasaheb Phalke. There are also film sets, props, film tapes, soundtracks, trailers, transparencies, and a rich collection of film-related literature and memorabilia depicting Indian film history in chronological order. It is divided into 9 sections comprising “The Origin of Cinema”, “Cinema comes to India”, “Indian Silent Film”, “Advent of Sound”, “The Studio Era”, “The impact of World War II”, “Creative Resonance”, “New Wave and Beyond” and “Regional Cinema”.
A galaxy of past and present Bollywood stalwarts like Manoj Kumar, Aamir Khan, A. R. Rahman, Asha Bhosle, Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, Randhir Kapoor, Karan Johar, Madhur Bhandarkar, Kiran Shantaram, Boney Kapoor, David Dhawan, Rohit Shetty, Waheeda Rehman, Jeetendra Kapoor, Asha Parekh, Pankaj Kapoor, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Parineeti Chopra, Divya Dutta, and many others were in attendance at the inaugural event.
