Retain Your History: Prasad Labs Issues 30-Day Ultimatum Before Permanently Destroying Film Negatives
In a move that has sent shockwaves through the Indian film industry, Prasad Film Laboratories has issued a strict public notice giving filmmakers, producers, and legal heirs just 30 days to claim their original celluloid negatives before they are permanently destroyed.
Published in the June 20, 2026 issue of Complete Cinema magazine, the notice warns that any physical film stock left unclaimed across its cold storage facilities in Chennai, Trivandrum, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad will be destroyed in compliance with pollution-control norms.
The Threat of Irreversible Cinematic Loss
For decades, Prasad Labs served as the primary custodian of India’s cinematic heritage. While the laboratory operations shut down a few years ago, the facility continued to preserve master negatives in specialized cold storage rooms for a rental fee.
Now, the company is completely dismantling its cold storage infrastructure. Because many older movies exist strictly on physical film, a failure to retrieve these assets within the one-month window could mean the absolute, irreversible erasure of cinematic history.
An Industry Insider Warns: “It is critical that this message reaches the rightful owners in the industry immediately. In the past, negatives of certain films were destroyed due to negligence, and today, no copies of those films exist anywhere in the world.”
The Tragic Precedent of Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar (2000)
The current crisis mirrors the tragic fate of director Hansal Mehta’s critically acclaimed Manoj Bajpayee-Tabu starrer, Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar.
Speaking to Bollywood Hungama recently, Mehta revealed the heartbreaking reason why his film has vanished from history:
When processing giant Adlabs was shutting down its storage facilities, they sent a similar one-month notice to the film’s production partners.
The notice went ignored or unnoticed. True to their word, Adlabs destroyed the original negatives.
“There is no record of the film left,” Mehta lamented. “Rather than celebrate the film, I am very sad about the development.”
Action Required for Filmmakers & Legal Heirs
To prevent another Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar disaster, Prasad Labs has urged all stakeholders—including independent producers, major studios, distributors, financiers, and legal heirs—to immediately audit their archival records.
Material must be claimed by July 20, 2026. Legitimate ownership documentation, rental clearance, and supporting records must be produced before the laboratory releases the master prints.
