{{Short description|Government-owned film production company}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2017}} {{Use Indian English|date=October 2017}} {{Infobox company | name = Films Division of India | logo = Films Division of India.png | caption = | type = Public | traded_as = | genre = Electronic<!-- Only used with media and publishing companies --> | fate = merged with National Film Development Corporation. | predecessor = | successor = | foundation = {{Start date and age|1948}} | founder = Government of India | defunct = {{End date and age|df=yes|2022|03|30}} | location_city = | location_country = | location = 24, Dr. G. Deshmukh Marg, Ministry of I&B, Mumbai-26 | locations = Branches and Production centres:<br>Kolkata<br>Bangalore<br>New Delhi<br>Chennai<br>Thiruvananthapuram<br>Hyderabad<br>Vijayawada<ref>{{cite web|title=Contact us Film Division|url=http://filmsdivision.org/contact-us.html|access-date=7 February 2019|publisher=Official website|archive-date=3 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190103153006/http://filmsdivision.org/contact-us.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> | area_served = | key_people = | industry = Electronic media | products = | services = | revenue = | operating_income = | net_income = | aum = <!-- Only used with financial services companies--> | assets = | equity = | owner = | num_employees = | parent = Ministry of Information and Broadcasting | divisions = | subsid = | homepage = [http://www.filmsdivision.org/ www.filmsdivision.org] | footnotes = | intl = }} '''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, Government of India, with its main intent being to "produce documentaries and news magazines for publicity of Government programmes" and the cinematic record of Indian history.<ref>{{cite news |title= Now, Indian short films also MIFF-ed|url= http://ibnlive.in.com/news/now-indian-short-films-also-miffed/223076-60-120.html|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120127020725/http://ibnlive.in.com/news/now-indian-short-films-also-miffed/223076-60-120.html|url-status= dead|archive-date= 27 January 2012|newspaper= IBN Live|access-date=22 January 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=About us |url=http://www.filmsdivision.org/aboutus.php |publisher=Official website |access-date=27 January 2012 |archive-date=8 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120308203441/http://www.filmsdivision.org/aboutus.php |url-status=dead }}</ref>
FDI was divided into four wings; these are Production, Distribution, International Documentary and Short Film Festival. The Division produces documentaries/news magazines from its headquarters in Mumbai, films on defence and family welfare from New Delhi and featurettes focussing on rural India from the regional centres at Calcutta now (Kolkata) and Bangalore.<ref>{{cite web |title=Film Division |url=http://www.mib.nic.in/ShowContent.aspx?uid1=4&uid2=16&uid3=0&uid4=0&uid5=0&uid6=0&uid7=0 |publisher=Ministry if I & B |access-date=27 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304045047/http://www.mib.nic.in/ShowContent.aspx?uid1=4&uid2=16&uid3=0&uid4=0&uid5=0&uid6=0&uid7=0 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1990, it was started at the annual Mumbai International Film Festival, for documentary, short and animation films at Mumbai. It housed a museum of cinema, the National Museum of Indian Cinema (NMIC), inaugurated on 19 January 2019.
In March 2022, it was merged with National Film Development Corporation.
==History== Established in 1948, FDI followed the model of state controlled and monopolized production, distribution and exhibition of documentary films, news reels and propaganda films, soon transforming into the biggest producer documentary and short film production in the country.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Garga|first1=Bhagwan Das|title=From Raj to Swaraj: The Non-fiction Film in India|date=11 April 2008|publisher=Viking|isbn=9780520940581}}</ref> For decades to come, FDI would produce thousands of documentaries and newsreels that would reach as many as 25 million Indians a week. As James Beveridge of the National Film Board of Canada would later observe, FDI “delivered a body of documentaries and newsreels which must constitute the largest peace-time programme of public information films ever seen among the democratic countries.”<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Beveridge |first1= James A |date= July–September 1955 |title= The Film in India: First Impressions |journal= Indian Documentary |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=5 }}</ref>
==Works== Films Division had produced mainly for the state-owned TV channel, Doordarshan. It produced some classics like Ek Anek Aur Ekta.<ref>{{cite news|title= Spellbinding art show|url= http://www.cnngo.com/mumbai/play/art-show-mumbai-drivein-theatre|newspaper= CNNgo|access-date= 22 January 2012|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100322185508/http://www.cnngo.com/mumbai/play/art-show-mumbai-drivein-theatre|archive-date= 22 March 2010|url-status= dead}}</ref> The films division had produced over 8000 films since inception and about 5000 films are being made available for online purchase and downloads.<ref>{{cite news |title= Museum for Indian cinema to come up in Mumbai by 2013|url= http://www.indianexpress.com/news/museum-for-indian-cinema-to-come-up-in-mumba/714960/|newspaper= Indian Express|access-date=22 January 2012}}</ref>
==Film club== In 2012 Films Division started a film club at Mumbai which screens films from archives.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://forbesindia.com/blog/life/show-and-tell-the-films-divisions-new-film-club/|title=Show and Tell: The Films Division's New Film Club | Forbes India Blog|access-date=20 August 2015|archive-date=27 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150927084925/http://forbesindia.com/blog/life/show-and-tell-the-films-divisions-new-film-club/|url-status=live}}</ref>
==NMIC== The Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi inaugurated National Museum of Indian Cinema in Mumbai on 19 January 2019.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/hows-the-josh-asks-prime-minister-narendra-modi/articleshow/67611298.cms|publisher=Times of India|title=How's the josh asks prime minister Narendra Modi|date=21 January 2019|access-date=3 February 2019}}</ref> The “National Museum of Indian Cinema” is a store house of information for the public and it facilitates the film makers, film students and critics to know about the development of cinema in the world.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://filmsdivision.org/nmic.html|title=NMIC|website=Film Division of India|access-date=7 February 2019|archive-date=31 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190131080210/http://filmsdivision.org/nmic.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Selected filmography== * ''Rabindranath Tagore'' (1961), by Satyajit Ray * ''Through the Eyes of a Painter'' (1967), by M. F. Hussain * ''The House That Ananda Built'' (1968) * ''Mahatma: Life of Gandhi, 1869–1948'' (1968) * ''The Awakener'' (1969) A film on Meher Baba * ''Aao Hajj Karen'' (1980)<ref>{{cite web |title=Aao Hajj Karen (1980) |url=https://indiancine.ma/AMMB/info |website=Indiancine.ma |access-date=23 January 2021 |archive-date=24 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201024032343/https://indiancine.ma/AMMB/info |url-status=live }}</ref> * ''Bansuri Guru'' (2013)
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20120128103137/http://www.filmsdivision.org/index.php Official site] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20160304045047/http://www.mib.nic.in/ShowContent.aspx?uid1=4&uid2=16&uid3=0&uid4=0&uid5=0&uid6=0&uid7=0 Films Division of India] at the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting
{{MIBI}} {{authority control}}
Category:Government agencies of India Category:Film production companies based in Mumbai Category:Organizations established in 1948 Category:Organisations based in Mumbai Category:Film distributors of India Category:Producers who won the Best Children's Film National Film Award Category:Producers who won the Best Film on Other Social Issues National Film Award Category:1948 establishments in India Category:2022 mergers and acquisitions