P. K. Nair

Paramesh Krishnan Nair (6 April 1933 – 4 March 2016) was an Indian film archivist and film scholar, who was the founder and director of the National Film Archive of India (NFAI) in 1964. He is regarded as the Henri Langlois of India because of his lifelong dedication towards the preservation of films in India. A passionate film archivist, he worked at the NFAI for over three decades, collecting films from India and from all over the world.

P. K. Nair
Born
Paramesh Krishnan Nair

(1933-04-06)April 6, 1933
Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
Died4 March 2016(2016-03-04) (aged 82)
Pune, Maharashtra
Other namesCelluloid Man
Occupation(s)Film archivist, film scholar, film teacher, film festival consultant

He was instrumental in acquiring for the archive several landmark Indian films like Dadasaheb Phalke's Raja Harishchandra[1] and Kaliya Mardan, Bombay Talkies films such as Jeevan Naiya, Bandhan, Kangan, Achhut Kanya and Kismet, S. S. Vasan's Chandralekha and Uday Shankar's Kalpana.

In 2012, Celluloid Man, an award-winning documentary was made on his life and works, by Shivendra Singh Dungarpur.

Early life and education

Born and brought up in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, Nair developed an interest in cinema early in his life. His initiation into films began with Tamil mythological films in the early 1940s such as K. Subramaniam's Ananthasayanam and Bhakta Prahlada. His fascination for cinema began here, though his family did not support his interest in films.[2]

He graduated in science from the University of Kerala in 1953. Soon afterwards, he went to Bombay to pursue a career in filmmaking.

Film and Television Institute of India

Though he got some practical training in branches of film making from film makers of Bombay, particularly Mehboob Khan, Bimal Roy and Hrishikesh Mukherjee, he realised that he did not have the ideal qualities to become a filmmaker himself. His interest lay more in the field of academics.

As advised by Jean Bhownagary of Films Division of India, he appeared for an interview at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), was selected and joined the institute in March 1961 in the position of research assistant. While at FTII, he assisted Marie Seton and Professor Satish Bahadur in initiating and conducting the film appreciation classes of FTII. He also conducted early work to establish the film archive set up as a separate wing of FTII. He corresponded with the curators and directors of established film archives in the United Kingdom, United States, France, Italy, Poland, Soviet Union and other countries. All of them advised an independent autonomous entity for NFAI and not as a wing of FTII.

National Film Archive of India

The National Film Archive of India was founded in 1964 and Nair was appointed to the post of assistant curator in November 1965. He established the archive from scratch by collecting films from all over India and the world and was promoted as director of the archive in 1982. He spearheaded the NFAI, Pune for nearly three decades and built up the archive which now enjoys a vibrant international reputation.

Landmark acquisitions include the Dadasaheb Phalke films and films of New Theatres, Bombay Talkies, Minerva Movietone, Wadia Movietone, Gemini Studios and AVM Productions.

He was instrumental in introducing the works of world masters of cinema like Ingmar Bergman, Akira Kurosawa, Andrzej Wajda, Miklós Jancsó, Krzysztof Zanussi, Vittorio De Sica, Federico Fellini, apart from significant Indian film makers like Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak, Mrinal Sen, V. Shantaram, Raj Kapoor and Guru Dutt to FTII students, film society members, and other film study groups in the country. He was also instrumental in setting up the International Film Festival of Kerala.[3] [4]

When he retired in April 1991, he had collected over 12,000 films, of which 8,000 were Indian.

Post-retirement

After his retirement, he lived in Pune not very far away from the NFAI and the Film and Television Institute of India. After a prolonged illness he died on March 4, 2016, at Sahyadri Nursing Home in Pune. He is survived by a daughter who lives in Thiruvananthapuram and two sons who live in Pune and Canada.

Awards and recognition

Nair was awarded the Satyajit Ray Memorial Award in 2008.[5] Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, a film archivist who considered Nair his "guru", produced Celluloid Man, a documentary chronicling the life of Nair.[2] The documentary premiered at the Il Cinema Ritrovato in Bologna, Italy in June 2012.[6] Later it won two National Awards at the 60th National Film Awards, including Best Biographical Film and Best Editing.[7] The film was released in India on 3 May 2013 to coincide with the centenary of Indian cinema.[8][9]

References
  1. "Meet the Screen Saver". Hindustan Times. 5 May 2013. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  2. Banerjee, Shoumojit (5 March 2016). "India's film archiver-in-chief no more". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
  3. "PK Nair who Devised IFFK | IFFK 2011". Metromatinee.com. Archived from the original on 19 November 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
  4. Unnithan, Sangeetha (12 December 2010). "'IFFK has built its own identity'". Archived from the original on 25 October 2012. Retrieved 24 April 2011.
  5. "P K Nair to Receive Satyajit Ray Memorial Award today". DearCinema.com. 16 October 2008. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
  6. "Programmazione – Cineteca di Bologna". Cinetecadibologna.it. 26 June 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
  7. "60th National Film Awards Announced" (PDF) (Press release). Press Information Bureau (PIB), India.
  8. "PK Nair, the reel historian". India Today. 3 May 2013. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
  9. "The Celluloid Man: PK Nair & the future of our cinematic past". Sunday Guardian. May 2013. Retrieved 5 May 2013.

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