The film industry is facing one of its most severe crises ever. The dispute between the producers and multiplex owners over revenue sharing does not seem to end. The last few weeks have seen no new movie release. Old movies are being shown on a second run in most movie halls.

The conversion of analog movies into digital format and the restoration of old movies is gaining momentum. Adlabs Digital Services BPO is a major digital restoration and content processing facility launched by Adlabs films in Mumbai. Launched at a cost of over Rs 150 crore the facility is spread over 90,000 sq ft. Presently it employees 300 employees and is likely to employ over 1200 employees during the year ahead.

National Film Archive of India (NFAI), Pune has placed an order of digital restoration of one thousand films that have been preserved by them.

Mr Anil Arjun, CEO, Adlabs Films said “Adlabs has several years of experience in handling film media in various formats. The work on this facility began about six months ago with extensive research on the right sizing and capacity required. With new formats emerging, many content owners will want to update their content. Other than the contract we’ve received from NFAI, we’re expecting a significant amount of business from the overseas market, especially Europe,”

The digitally restored films can also be distributed through networks obviating the manual distribution of prints resorted to earlier.