MUMBAI: Director Madhur Bhandarkar’s films will be preserved by the National Film Archive of India (NFAI). Chandani Bar, Page-3, Corporate, Traffic Signal, Fashion and Jail, are all the films which will now find space in the government’s archival data for Indian films.

Bhandarkar, who has handed over the copies of all his films to the NFAI in Pune, said, “I am very happy that NFAI is preserving my films. I feel it is of a critical importance that we preserve our films. Our industry has some very respectful and milestone work which is left just like that, but if it is preserved it can be viewed at any time in the future and hence our work gets an everlasting life. I am thankful to the Ministry of I&B, Government of India.”

NFAI director Vijay Jadhav said, “Madhur Bhandarkar’s films are very popular and widely seen. His films are very much in demand for various film festivals and they also arouse a lot of interest in students and youngsters. I would like to thank Madhur Bhandarkar for his kind gesture and I respect his understanding for the value of Film Preservation.”

Bhandarkar’s forthcoming film, which is a romantic comedy titled Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji, is slated to release on 28 January, 2011.