Preserving vintage Bollywood films for posterity

Whether cinema gets better with age the way wine does is debatable But what happens for sure is that reels worsen over time unless stored suitably In some cases despite all the care a film doesnrsquot survive the test of time However with the concept of digitisation and restoration fast gaining ground in our country it seems hope is in sight u00a0Lately there have been some healthy signs of this change u00a0A digitally restored print of the 1983 cult film Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro was released last year Taking a cue a doctored version of Salaam Bombay hit the marquee thus marking its 25th anniversaryu00a0 A restored print of Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron 1983 The remake of the 1981 film Chashme Buddoor may have attracted discouraging reviews from critics but the rerelease of the restored version won more accolades than the remake After all who wouldnrsquot like technology that makes the flickers blips and other disturbances disappear while enhancing the overall experience A coloured still from the film Half Ticket 1962 For what itrsquos worth the process is not easy Turns out the good old filmsrsquo cans are usually stashed away leaving the negatives fragile And this is exactly where some hightech companies step in to resuscitate cinema For instance the Lower Parelbased UTV Group is into digitisation restoration and preservation It also owns the rights to the negative rights of movies that were once produced under big banners such as Homi Wadia AVM Productions the oldest surviving studio in India and Gemini But the actual procedure continues to be a challenge and is rewarding too Martin Scorsese took the initiative to restore the 1948 classic Kalpana quotA film is actually a series of photographs To be precise there are 24 frames in a second And when we sit down to work we go frame by frame So one can guess the kind of labour and time it requires to clean each frame On top of that most of the old films were shot on 35 mm and some cans are often found missing from a given set That adds to our frustration but we donrsquot give uprdquo says Sushilkumar Agrawal chairman of UTV Group A digitised still from the film Do Anjaane 1976 After its release last month the documentary Celluloid Man managed to shed some light on the pitiable condition in which films are archived in India if at all that is Regardless going by the recent trend awareness is gradually replacing tardiness ldquoAs far as film restorations are concerned especially old movies Indians always ask about the monetary benefits For them if a movie is to be archived then there has to be a commercial angle Fortunately the past negligence is giving way to preservation and thatrsquos what countsrdquo adds Naresh Jhangiani of Reliance MediaWorks This Mumbaibased company has restored more than 1700 prints including 27 silent films from those belonging to Bollywood NASA National Archives and Hollywood In fact it was also involved in the restoration of Chashme Buddoor Speaking of which one of the greatest challenge is to maintain a moviersquos tone and texture without compromising on the era in which a film is set ldquoWe try not to overdo anything because it doesnrsquot make sense to make a film from 1970s look like it belongs to 2000s just because we have the requisite softwarerdquo explains Vivek Modi of Reliance MediaWorks Even though therersquos a sense of optimism not all movies can be digitised satisfactorily Modi points out ldquoA 15yearold film can be more challenging to digitise than a 60yearold film It all depends on the condition of the reels available Therersquos a level of expectation when the producers approach us but therersquos a limit to what one can do with the original printrdquo The drive to preserve past filmmakersrsquo legacies seems sudden but not without a reason ldquoEarlier those in possession of the cans did not know their value Now that they realise the significance they flock to us Itrsquos not always about the money though Itrsquos also about maintaining cinematic heritage A lot of people have started digging up stuff in their attic but itrsquos too late in most casesrdquo rues Agrawal u00a0