The National Film Archive of India (NFAI) on Tuesday announced the acquisition of the original camera negative of the hit film "PK", directed by Rajkumar Hirani. The Aamir Khan-starrer satire-drama, which takes a dig at blind faith, attained both commercial success and won critical acclaim upon its release in 2014.
"PK" happens to be one of the last few movies to be shot on celluloid in India, according to a press release by the NFAI.
Hirani today handed over the original camera negative of the film to Prakash Magdum, Director NFAI, here. The 58-year-old writer-director also appealed to filmmakers to preserve the negatives of films.
"It was important to preserve the negative and I am very happy that it would be preserved in NFAI at Pune. It is the duty of a filmmaker to ensure that the films are preserved and I appeal to all filmmakers to support NFAI in this important cause," the director said in a statement.
Magdum said the NFAI is pleased to have added "PK" to their collection, especially because it was shot on celluloid.
"The transition from celluloid to digital in terms of production of films in India happened during 2013-14. Therefore, it is all the more important to have this film for preservation," he said.
The original negative of Hirani's previous blockbuster films like "Munnabhai MBBS", "Lage Raho Munnabhai", and "3 Idiots" were already under preservation at the NFAI.
Apart from the original camera negative, about 300 cans consisting of the rushes of "PK" and outtakes of "3 Idiots" were also handed over to the film archive. A huge paper material consisting of posters, lobby cards and photographs of films directed by Hirani would also be handed over to the NFAI.
Co-produced by Hirani along with Vidhu Vinod Chopra, "PK" also starred Anushka Sharma, Sushant Singh Rajput, Sanjay Dutt, Boman Irani and Saurabh Shukla.
