National Film Archive of India (NFAI) has acquired over 450 glass

In a major acquisition, the National Film Archive of India (NFAI) has acquired over 450 glass slides of early Telugu cinema to add to its existing collection, it was announced on Friday.

These slides - made by pressing a film positive between two thin square glasses - were used to publicise new films before release or during intervals in cinemas, NFAI Director Prakash Magdum said.

"The film positives used to prepare the glass slide were actually miniatures of the film poster or publicity material for newspapers and magazines. They represent the pictorial history of early Telugu cinema from the late 1930s to the mid-1950s and feature lovely frames tracing the gravitas of Telugu films during the early decades of Indian talkie," he added.