indian cinema heritage foundation

project cinemaazi

Cinemaazi is the first of its kind enterprise to develop a digital repository and encyclopedic resource to:

  • Chronicle and preserve the rich history and heritage of Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Garhwali, Kannada, Konkani, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and other regional cinemas;
  • Document the extra-ordinary legacies of its people and films, and archive their rich contribution;
  • Exhibit the exquisite and colourful cinema memorabilia from the in-house collection of the founders of Cinemaazi;
  • Recount the spectacular journey of Indian cinema and its people, through digital content in multimedia format - articles, video and photo essays, interviews, reviews, timelines - authored by historians, scholars and experts;
  • Rekindle memories and create nostalgia;
  • Crowd source memories and memorabilia; and
  • Engage and entertain the readers, viewers and listeners.

Cinemaazi is managed by the Indian Cinema Heritage Foundation, a public charitable trust registered under the Indian Trusts Act, 1882.

How Cinemaazi was conceived

Indian Cinema occupies the centre-stage of the life of an average Indian as a means of entertainment. It has a rich and vibrant history and invaluable heritage. Many people and institutions have contributed in its development. But the content on vintage cinema is fragmented across many portals on internet or buried in the material resting with the private collectors. Information available in public domain is also not always reliable. Absence of an all-inclusive quality online resource that chronicles, preserves and exhibits the vibrant history of Indian cinema left the need for an extensive online digital repository focussed on the history and journey of Hindi cinema.

I and Sumant are avid film lovers. We have built a vast collection of Indian cinema memorabilia and other informative content over many years. Recognising the need for a single, comprehensive, accessible and reliable resource on the Indian cinema, we decided to curate this potent and truly one-of-a-kind enterprise on the history of Indian cinema through scholarly yet interesting and joyful contemporary modes.

- Asha Batra, Co-Founder

Our Vision

The vision of Cinemaazi is to develop, preserve, document, archive and exhibit the rich history and heritage of Indian vintage cinema and its people for the benefit of the present and future generations.

Mission

We aspire to chronicle over 35000 films made in Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Garhwali, Kannada, Konkani, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and other regional languages, from the year 1913 to 1999. Life and filmography of over 2000 persons will also be profiled. So will be as many songs as we are able.

In view of the enormous size of the Indian cinema and aspirational targets, chronicling will be done in phases. We intent to complete the complete the encyclopedic part of the project by the end of the year 2022.

The content on website will always be a work in progress.

Values

The values that guide our work are proper research, accessibility and reliability.