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 The National Film Archive of India (NFAI) was established as a media unit of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in February 1964. It was a member of the International Federation of Film Archives. In March 2022, it was merged with th ...

(NFAI) in 1964. He is regarded as the

Henri Langlois Henri Langlois (; 13 November 1914 – 13 January 1977) was a French film archivist and cinephile. A pioneer of film preservation, Langlois was an influential figure in the history of cinema. His film screenings in Paris in the 1950s are often ...

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. He was instrumental in acquiring for the archive several landmark Indian films like

Dadasaheb Phalke Dhundiraj Govind Phalke (Pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, ̪ʱuɳɖiɾaːd͡ʒ pʰaːɭke, popularly known as Dadasaheb Phalke (30 April 1870 – 16 February 1944), was an Indian producer-director-screenwriter, known as "the Father of Indian ...

's ''

Raja Harishchandra ''Raja Harishchandra'' () is a 1913 Indian silent film directed and produced by Dadasaheb Phalke. It is often considered the first full-length Indian feature film. ''Raja Harishchandra'' features Dattatraya Damodar Dabke, Anna Salunke, Bhal ...

'' and ''Kaliya Mardan'',

Bombay Talkies Bombay Talkies was a movie studio founded in 1934. During its period of operation, Bombay Talkies produced 40 movies in Malad, a suburb of the Indian city of Bombay. The studio was established in 1934 by Himanshu Rai and Devika Rani. Afte ...

films such as ''

Jeevan Naiya ''Jeevan Naiya'' is a 1936 Indian Hindi film directed by Franz Osten, and produced by Himanshu Rai for his studio Bombay Talkies. It is famous for being the screen debut of early superstar Ashok Kumar. The film is about the ostracism of danc ...

'', ''Bandhan'', ''Kangan'', ''

Achhut Kanya ''Achhut Kannya'' () is a 1936 Indian Hindi film. The film deals with the social position of Dalit girls and is considered a reformist period-piece. The film was one of several successful Bombay Talkies collaborations between Franz Osten, Nir ...

'' and '' Kismet'',

S. S. Vasan Subramaniam Srinivasan (4 January 1904 – 26 August 1969), popularly known by his screen name S. S. Vasan, was an Indian journalist, writer, advertiser, film producer, director and business tycoon. He is the founder of the Tamil-language maga ...

's '' Chandralekha'' and

Uday Shankar Uday Shankar (born Uday Shankar Choudhary; 8 December 1900 – 26 September 1977) was an Indian dancer and choreographer, best known for creating a fusion style of dance, adapting European theatrical techniques to Indian classical dance, imbu ...

's ''

Kalpana Kalpana may refer to: Film and television * ''Kalpana'' (1948 film), an Indian Hindi-language dance film * ''Kalpana'' (1960 film), a romantic Bollywood film * ''Kalpana'' (1970 film), an Indian Malayalam film * ''Kalpana'' (2012 film), an I ...

''. In 2012, ''

Celluloid Man ''Celluloid Man'' is a 2012 documentary film directed by Shivendra Singh Dungarpur that explores the life and work of legendary Indian archivist P. K. Nair, founder of the National Film Archive of India and guardian of Indian cinema. ''Celluloi ...

'', 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 Thiruvananthapuram ( ), also known as Trivandrum, is the Capital city, capital city of the Indian state of Kerala. As of 2011, the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation had a population of 957,730 over an area of 214.86 sq. km, making it the ...

, 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 Krishnasamy Subramaniyam (20 April 1904 – 7 April 1971) was an Indian film director of the 1930s and 1940s. Dancer Padma Subrahmanyam is his daughter. Biography Subramanyam was involved in the establishment of the Tamil film industry. He ...

's ''Ananthasayanam'' and ''Bhakta Prahlada''. His fascination for cinema began here, though his family did not support his interest in films. He graduated in science from the

University of Kerala University of Kerala (formerly known as University of Travancore) is a state-run public university in Thiruvananthapuram, the state capital of Kerala, India. It was established in 1937 by a promulgation of the Maharajah of Travancore, Chithi ...

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 Mehboob Khan Ramzan Khan (9 September 1907
at filmreference.com. – 28 May 1964) was a pr ...

Bimal Roy Bimal Roy (12 July 1909 – 7 January 1966) was an Indian film director. He is particularly noted for his realistic and socialistic films such as , '' Parineeta'', ''Biraj Bahu'', '' Devdas'', '' Madhumati'', '' Sujata'', '' Parakh'' and '' Ba ...

and

Hrishikesh Mukherjee Hrishikesh Mukherjee (30 September 1922 – 27 August 2006) was an Indian film director, editor and writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest filmmakers of Indian cinema. Popularly known as ''Hrishi-da'', he directed 42 films during his car ...

, 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 The Films Division of India (FDI), commonly referred as Films Division, was established in 1948 following the independence of India. It was the first state film production and distribution unit, under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting ...

, he appeared for an interview at the

Film and Television Institute of India The Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) is a film institute under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of India and aided by the Central Government 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 Marie Seton (20 March 1910 – 17 February 1985) was a British actress, art, theatre and film critic and biographer of Sergei Eisenstein, Paul Robeson, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Satyajit Ray. Biography Her father, Captain Seton served in the Brit ...

and Professor

Satish Bahadur Satish Bahadur (26 November 1925 – 23 July 2010), was an Indian film critic who served as Professor of Film Appreciation (1963–83) at the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, India, and a close associate of Marie Seton, Vijaya Mu ...

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

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

films and films of

New Theatres New Theatres is an Indian film studio. It was formed in Calcutta by producer B. N. Sircar (Birendranath Sircar, the recipient of Dadasaheb Phalke Award of 1970 And Padma Bhushan in 1972). It was formed on February 10, 1931. The company motto was ...

, Minerva Movietone,

Wadia Movietone Wadia Movietone was a noted Indian film production company and studio based in Mumbai, established in 1933 by Wadia brothers J. B. H. Wadia and Homi Wadia. It was most known for stunt, fantasy and mythological films, including '' Hunterwali'' ...

Gemini Studios Gemini Studios was an Indian film studio based in Madras, Tamil Nadu. It was launched when S. S. Vasan, a businessman of many ventures (including the ownership of Ananda Vikatan) bought Motion Picture Producers' Combines from Krishnaswamy Su ...

and

AVM Productions AVM Productions is an Indian film production studio founded by A. V. Meiyappa Chettiar. It is the oldest film studio in India. The filming studios are located in Vadapalani, Chennai. It has produced over 300 films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, ...

. He was instrumental in introducing the works of world masters of cinema like

Ingmar Bergman Ernst Ingmar Bergman (14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007) was a Swedish film and theatre director and screenwriter. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential film directors of all time, his films have been described as "profoun ...

Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker who List of works by Akira Kurosawa, directed 30 feature films in a career spanning six decades. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in the History of film, history of cinema ...

Andrzej Wajda Andrzej Witold Wajda (; 6 March 1926 – 9 October 2016) was a Polish film and theatre director. Recipient of an Honorary Oscar, the Palme d'Or, as well as Honorary Golden Lion and Honorary Golden Bear Awards, he was a prominent member of the "P ...

Miklós Jancsó Miklós Jancsó (; 27 September 192131 January 2014) was a Hungarian people, Hungarian film director and screenwriter. Jancsó achieved international prominence starting in the mid-1960s with works including ''Szegénylegények, The Round-Up'' ...

Krzysztof Zanussi Krzysztof Pius Zanussi (born 17 June 1939) is a Polish film and theatre director, producer and screenwriter. He is a professor of European film at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland where he conducts a summer workshop. He ...

Vittorio De Sica Vittorio De Sica ( , ; 7 July 1901 – 13 November 1974) was an Italian film director and actor, a leading figure in the neorealist movement. Widely considered one of the most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, four of the fil ...

Federico Fellini Federico Fellini (; 20 January 1920 – 31 October 1993) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. He is known for his distinctive style, which blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. He is recognized as one of the greatest and ...

, apart from significant Indian film makers like

Satyajit Ray Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian film director, screenwriter, author, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligraphy, calligrapher, and composer. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest and most influ ...

Ritwik Ghatak Ritwik Kumar Ghatak (; 4 November 19256 February 1976) was an Indian film director, screenwriter, actor and playwright. Widely considered as one of the greatest film makers of all time, his works remained largely underrated and ignored during hi ...

Mrinal Sen Mrinal Sen ( ; 14 May 1923 – 30 December 2018) was a Bengali film director and screenwriter known for his work primarily in Cinema of West Bengal, Bengali, and a few Hindi cinema, Hindi and Telugu cinema, Telugu language films. Regarded as on ...

, V. Shantaram,

Raj Kapoor Raj Kapoor (; born as Shrishti Nath Kapoor; 14 December 1924 2 June 1988; also known as Ranbir Raj Kapoor) was an Indian actor, film director and producer, who worked in Hindi cinema. He is considered to be one of the greatest and most influen ...

and

Guru Dutt Guru Dutt (born Vasanth Kumar Shivashankar Padukone; 9 July 1925 – 10 October 1964; also known as Gurudatta Padukone) was an Indian film actor, director, producer, choreographer, and writer.Rajadhyaksha, Ashish, and Paul Willemen. 9941998 ...

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 The International Film Festival of Kerala (abbreviated as IFFK) is a film festival held annually in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala, India. This film festival started in 1996 and is hosted by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy ...

. 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

. 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

Memorial Award in 2008. Shivendra Singh Dungarpur'','' a film archivist who considered Nair his "guru", produced ''

'', a documentary chronicling the life of Nair. The documentary premiered at the

Il Cinema Ritrovato ''Il Cinema Ritrovato'' () is an annual film festival organised every summer by Cineteca di Bologna in Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consist ...

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

, Italy in June 2012. Later it won two National Awards at the

60th National Film Awards The 60th National Film Awards ceremony was an event during which the Directorate of Film Festivals presented its annual National Film Awards to honour the best films of 2012 in the Indian cinema. The ceremony was held on 3 May 2013 and was host ...

, including Best Biographical Film and Best Editing. The film was released in India on 3 May 2013 to coincide with the centenary of

Indian cinema The cinema of India, consisting of motion pictures made by the Indian film industry, has had a large effect on world cinema since the second half of the 20th century. Indian cinema is made up of various film industries, each focused on p ...

References

https://www.amazon.in/Indias-Film-Society-Movement-Journey/dp/9385985639

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nair, P.K. Indian archivists Film archivists 1933 births 2016 deaths Scientists from Thiruvananthapuram Indian film historians Film curators University of Kerala alumni Indian curators 20th-century Indian historians