Enkayaar, Bollywood Trade News Network

When Hollywood stumbled upon a dinosaur and found that it can become a money spinning venture in one form or the other, to accentuate the feeling and to ensure that the image continued to be etched in the memory of the people, it built museums and surreal experience around the whole entity of dinosaurs in one form or the other. The state also encouraged it to preserve the memory by providing grants and encouraging studies on the topics for further cinematic sojourns. On the other hand, in India even the premises of RK Studios is sought to be claimed for expansion of the road network setting aside the fact that it was the iconic image of RK Studios that gave an international recognition and fan following to the stars of the Hindi films. Prabhat Studios which was a pulsating entity privy to development of Indian cinema is now relegated to dust and from its remains a multi-storied complex is going to rear its head and its inhabitants may not even be aware of the space being occupied by them having such a historical importance.

It is indeed difficult to find any of the iconic studios being included as a place worth visit by the tourists who come to the Mecca of cinema aka Mumbai on a daily basis. For a country where it is difficult to visualize a life without cinematic interference in one form or the other it indeed is ironic to find that the vital architectural heritages associated with the cinematic history of the country are slowly slipping into oblivion and nobody seems to be having any concern about the same.

This element of preserving the cultural edifices is also in its infancy in Southern India as well, though the quotient of passion for cinema is much higher across the Vindhyas. An interest that seems to have been created in the element of cinema is about collecting the posters of the films from the past. This is one area, which has attained the element of collectible manifest from the fact that now posters of the film find expression as wall hangings as well.

Does it also has to do with the fact that the stars who have been part of the cinematic history do not on their own take interest in preservation of their associations by setting up museums and archives as it is done by their illustrious peers in Hollywood. Stars of Hollywood take pains to set up libraries and research centres and encourages research to be undertaken associated with their cinematic journey.

When Hindi film industry has started to make its presence felt internationally in a big way it indeed is a time for the big daddies associated with the industry from the past to encourage setting up of research centres and archives associated with their cinematic journey. Possibly big B and Dilip Kumar along with Dev Anand may take a lead in this regard, or else the most popular form of cultural expression may only be available in the form of film but the trivia associated with it may be lost for the generations to come. It is the trivia that needs to be preserved and once this initiative is undertaken cinema can indeed become a serious subject to study.


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