It's the world most old and comprehensive library on films, the Library of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Science, the Margaret Herrick Library. And it has new occupant, the screenplay of the recently released UTV film Life in a Metro directed Anurag Basu who also written the screenplay of the film, has been invited by the Motion Picture Academy's prestigious library to be part of the it's sprawling script collection.
Metro will be one amongst masterpieces like Finding Nemo, Million Dollar Baby and The Passion of the Christ that have got this honour.
This is another leg up for Indian films that have not stopped making headlines across the globe for it's content, style of films, but this is the first time a small no star cast Indian commercial film would be part of the acclaimed collection. Indian cinema this year is giving the green signal to new, fresh talent & concepts, like it has never done before. Lines between mainstream and so-called alternative don't exist anymore.
This is definitely the new wave of Indian films. Ram Mirchandani, Senior VP-Creative and Projects, UTV Motion Pictures says that "This is the changing phase of Indian cinema, whether its iffy, Cannes, Toronto film festival Indian films are a vital part of it. Especially recently there has been a growth in niche low budget, good scripted films like Khosla Ka Ghosla, Bheja Fry and Metro that have created it's own space in the sun".
Evermore special for Life in a...Metro as it is not really a typical Bollywood big budget-featuring blockbuster stars that have traditionally been acclaimed abroad. In fact it's a film completely shot in regular day-to-day backdrop! The selection of Metro for the academy library has opened inspirational doors to all young professionals and reassures us that the script rules.
The library has collections of more than 32,000 books; 1,800 periodical titles; 60,000 screenplays; lobby cards, over 8 million photographs; over 300 manuscript and other special collections relating to prominent industry individuals, studios and organizations; sheet music, music scores and sound recordings; production and costume sketches; artifacts; and oral histories.