Play it Again

“India does not have the required technology for audio restoration,so it has always been done abroad. This is the first time that it is being done in the country. However,Lobster has been in the restoration business for the past 20 years and their expertise will be really helpful,” says Gujar,who was contacted by National Film Development Council (NFDC) for the project. NFDC is likely to float tenders on the distribution of the films on high definition formats. This will be only done for the films that NFDC has the copyrights for,which includes Ray’s works.

“The damage to the films is medium. But even if there is mild damage,we are working on the restoration process because the audience needs to see the films on the new available formats. We will be out with the DVDs early next year,”says D Ramakrishnan,regional manager,NFDC.

“These are iconic films and the audience needs to experience them the way they were made. It is definitely about technology,but it is more about how you use that technology. Machines are not humans,so it requires people to devote time,listen carefully,isolate the optical sound,while removing the disturbance and ensuring that the original recording remains untarnished,” says Leon Rousseau of Diatason,the audio division of Lobster Films.

Sandip Ray,the film-maker’s son though,says he has no clue about the restoration. “Since these particular movies were made in the ‘80s and ‘90s,I thought that these films were relatively in good shape. I am sure the damage was done because of poor storage conditions. I have no clue about this though,as the copyright lies with NFDC since they are the corporate producers of the films,” he says.

While Gujar is co-ordinating the audio restoration,he is also managing the frame by frame video restoration of all the five titles by scanning the negatives and removing the chemical stains from the prints. “The damage to the films is medium to high and since these are coloured films,the composition is relatively tough and takes a lot of time to be restored,” he says. Incidentally,Gujar,who has been working on the films for the past five months,has in the past restored films like MS Sathyu’s Garam Hawa,Chetan Anand’s Haqeeqat and is also working on films like Ketan Mehta’s Mirch Masala and Kundan Shah’s Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron.