Celluloid Man

Award-winning director Shivendra Singh Dungarpur celebrates India’s film heritage in this masterful documentary about the rise of the National Film Archive of India and its obsessively passionate founder P.K. Nair.

In this masterful tribute to Indian film heritage, Shivendra Singh Dungarpur artfully weaves together dazzling archival footage with new material to illuminate the contributions of film archivist and conservationist P.K. Nair. In the mid-twentieth century, many countries created national film archives; it was not until 1964, that Nair took the task upon himself and founded the National Film Archive of India. Since then, over 12,000 films have been preserved in the archive, and the quest for cinematic conservation has become Nair's lifework. In the past 40 years, the archive has grown increasingly dilapidated, and Nair's former office is in effect a junkyard, suggesting a climate that is apathetic to the importance of a preserving film history. Nonetheless, Nair remains obsessively passionate about his work. Director Dungarpur worked tirelessly for permission to film Nair, the archive, and interview the scores of Indian filmmakers and directors who have been influenced by Nair's commitment to film history, in what is ultimately a love song to Indian films of the 20th century and their champion, P.K. Nair.

#pknair #nationalfilmarchiveofIndia