In a country that produces hundreds of films every year, the concept of cinema as a cultural heritage is yet in its nascent stage.

And what demonstrates this better than the fact that preservation of films falls pretty low on the priority list of both, the film industry and the public.

But that scenario is changing and the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC), realising the importance of preservation, will soon transfer its material to city-based National Film Archive of India (NFAI) for safe-keeping.

‘‘All the original negatives, which were lying scattered in their offices in Chennai, Bangalore and Kolkata, are being shifted here,’’ said the film archive director K S Sasidharan.

Just last Sunday, NFAI got some material from Chennai and more is expected from Kolkata soon. Around 150 negatives have reached the NFAI till now, including path-breaking films like Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi, Antarjali Yatra by Gautam Ghosh, Ganashatru by Satyajit Ray, a film on Ustad Bismillah Khan and Girish Kasaravalli’s Mane, starring Naseeruddin Shah.

The decision to shift all the material to the archive came when Sasidharan made this suggestion at the meeting of the advisory committee some time ago.

‘‘NFDC chairman Manmohan Shetty is also part of the committee and he was impressed with the suggestion. However, the pace at which it was implemented was really slow,’’ Sasidharan added.

The process was speeded up when actress Nina Gupta joined NFDC as the managing director. ‘‘She has worked with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and is well-versed with the importance of preservation of film material,’’ said Sasidharan.

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