Archive library with 85-year history of Kannada cinema in the works, says Suneel Puranik

The

Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy

’s latest venture should appeal to anyone with a keen interest in the rich history of the Kannada film industry or looking to study about it academically. The Academy is dedicating an entire floor to

archive

, preserve and chronicle the history of

Kannada cinema

through film prints, songs, articles, reviews and scripts and screenplays.

“For a long time, there have been discussions about creating an archive to showcase our industry's history. It was finally decided to act on this idea, which, I would call my most ambitious project. In the industry’s 85-year history, around 4650 films have been made and the plan is to create a one-place archive for all of it," he says.

Speaking about the challenges that he faced in putting together the content, Suneel says, "There’s limited access to films made before 2000. Luckily, there are a lot of films that have been submitted to the subsidy committees or for film festivals and awards, so we have access to around 2000 prints that need to be looked at. For the rest, we are seeking help from production houses, the

film archives body

in Pune at the film institute and other such bodies. We also are contacting studios and bodies in Chennai and Hyderabad for help in procuring prints of some older films."

The archive, adds, Suneel, will be a first for a regional film industry and involves crowdsourcing. "We have approached Akashvani for access to the many thousands songs, and are looking at various publications for reviews, articles and other information through the years. Reviews, particularly, play a big role in archiving. We are also archiving scripts, writings and stories from people in the industry. For instance, we have all the handwritten scripts, and songs of

Chi Udayashankar

. We are seeking more such contributions," he adds.

Suneel is hopeful of the archive

library

being ready in the next six months. "We have dedicated an entire floor in our building. We will also have a studio to screen films for those who want to do research," he explains, adding that this will be particularly helpful for those looking at pursuing PhD studies on Kannada cinema.