Manipuri celluloid films stored in Rupayan Studio in Kolkata are deteriorating as they are kept  without proper facilities, said Manipur Film producers Association who took stock of the status of the Manipuri celluloid films stores at the Kolkata studio. The producers’ association further drew the attention of the state government to establish film archiving lab in Manipur to save the works of art of Manipur.

 “Fungus have started eating into celluloid films stored at the Rupayan studion in west Bengal. If something is not done urgently, the state will loss all of its rare and historic celluloid films kept at the West Bengal studio,” said L. Surjakanta Sharma, the spokesperson of the Manipur Film producers Association.

Further while many original black and white films of Manipur are already lost, the producers’ spokesperson said that films which are an asset for the state will also be lost without any trace if they are not rescued immediately. He said, celluloid film archiving is an area that has been neglected after emergence of digital films.

Surjakanta said, during the celluloid films era in Manipur, the films were processed in a lab at Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and preferably at West Bengal. After digital films take over the celluloid version, the lab in Bengal where the Manipuri celluloid film negative and positive films are kept have stopped functioning with the government of Bengal ordering the closure of the West Bengal Film Development Corporation around 13 years ago. After the closure, different facilities in the lab such as the air conditioning system which is essential for maintaining the films negatives and sounds negatives have stopped, putting the conditions of the films at risk.

The association had approached the state government to rescue the films from their plight seven years back but till date there is no positive response from the government.