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TEHRAN, Jan 29 - From silent black-and-white films to colourful blockbusters bursting with song and dance, the evolution of Indian cinema is traced by a new museum in the home of Bollywood.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - Costing 1.4 billion rupees ($19.6 million), India's first national film museum is spread across a stylish 19th-century bungalow and a modern five-storey glass structure in south Mumbai.
Movie buffs can learn about India's first full-length feature film, the 1913 Dadasaheb Phalke-directed "Raja Harishchandra", and listen to recordings of K. L. Saigal, considered the first superstar of Hindi-language cinema.
They are also able to view hand-painted movie posters, including for internationally acclaimed director Satyajit Ray's 1955 hit "Pather Panchali", and click selfies beside a statue of Bollywood icon Raj Kapoor.
The museum also hosts replicas of the Mutoscope, the camera used by the Lumiere Brothers, and the Praxinoscope -- a spinning cylindrical animation device invented in France in the 1870s.
The idea for the museum was first mooted in 2006 and it was due to open in 2014 when the exhibition rooms housed in the 6,000 square foot heritage building were declared ready.
However the opening was delayed after the government decided to build the new wing, which includes a section exploring the impact independence hero Mahatma Gandhi had on cinema around the world, including on Charlie Chaplin.
The museum does contain some gaps though as many of India's early films were never preserved while other artefacts have been damaged over the years.
The government-funded National Museum of Indian Cinema (NMIC) boasts stacks of memorabilia, recordings and film-making tools as well as interactive touch screens where visitors can watch clips from memorable movies.
Source: AFP
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