A view of Hindustan Photo Films (HPF) factory. File
| Photo Credit: M. Sathyamoorthy
The Nilgiris district police arrested six persons including the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam’s (TVK) branch secretary from Ward Number 2 in Udhagamandalam for trespassing into the defunct Hindustan Photo Films (HPF) factory premises and illegally transporting more than three tonnes of soil, believed to be laced with silver nitrate accrued when the plant was functional.The factory, located at Indu Nagar along the Ooty-Gudalur Road in The Nilgiris, had been functional since 1960 during the tenure of then Chief Minister K. Kamaraj when it was built on 320 acres of forest land leased from the Forest Department. Equipped with extensive infrastructure and employing thousands of workers, it became one of South Asia’s most renowned photographic film manufacturing units. Black-and-white photographic films and X-ray films produced at the factory were exported to several countries.However, following the economic liberalisation policies of the 1990s, the arrival of private film manufacturers, advances in new technology, and increasing competition from foreign companies, demand for domestically-produced photographic films steadily declined and the factory eventually ceased all operations in 2018.
