No prints of several epic films: PK Nair

As the world celebrates 100 years of Indian cinema, veteran archivist PK Nair reveals that there are no prints of India's first talkie 'Alam Ara' made in 1931 or indeed of many epic films made before the 1950s.A The former director of the National Film Archive of India (NFAI) discloses the sad fact that only "leftovers" could be archived as films made before the 1950s were either destroyed or just vanished.

The first Indian film 'Raja Harishchandra' came out in 1913 but NFAI was set up more than five decades later in 1964. Most masterpieces during that time are now lost forever. Only the first and last part of 'Raja Harishchandra, a silent film that was India's first feature film, could be restored.

"We don't have 'Alam Ara' as people who made the film... didn't take care of the print," told Nair, 80. "We don't have the archive of many epic films. Whatever was available that time, we took all of them. It is not the question of whether the ideal film is selected or not," he added. Nair was in New Delhi recently for an event to celebrate 100 years of Indian cinema at Jawaharlal Nehru University.

According to Nair, who worked for about 26 years with the Pune-based NFAI, 70 percent of Indian films made before 1950 were not available for archiving.