Digitisation Projects

With an Endangered Archives Programme grant from the British Library, we digitised a number of Urdu film publications from the 1930s. These include 39 magazine issues (ʿAkkas, Film Review, Film Star, and Filmistan) and one book (Film o Drama by Owais Ahmad “Adib”), as well as one English booklet (The Picturegoer’s Art Portfolio of Great Lovers of the Screen). Rich resources for anyone interested in that era, these feature film reviews and advertisements for movies and amusement parks, alongside articles on Alam Ara (India’s first talkie), makeup techniques, Chinese films, and other topics. Our survey report serves as a finding aid and introduction to the collection.

With a Modern Endangered Archives Program grant from the UCLA Libraries, we also compiled a catalog of the Shabistan collections, much of which will soon be merged into the National Film Archive of India. The scholars Ritika Kaushik and Simran Bhalla contributed two wonderful essays focusing on Shabistan’s collection of films from the Children’s Film Society of India. These are all available on the MEAP site.

We hope that these resources will continue to be of use to scholars and film lovers. We are very grateful for all the support we have received over the years.