Bengali film director bemoans lack of adequate measures to preserve old film

"The old producers, who made the films, are no more and their successors have apparently showed little interest in preserving the black and white prints and misplaced them," a bitter Sinha told PTI here.

"For instance the producer of Bancharamer Bagan, made in the ’80s, is one Dhiresh Chakraborty who later went broke and I did not hear anything more about him or the film’s print so far," Sinha said.

The producer of Khudita Pasan, M N Ganguly also did not take adequate measures to preserve films and once black and white film laboratories closed down with the onset of colour films, his wards showed apathy in storing the classic.

The 76-year old director, who had been suffering from acute respiratory problem for some time, ruefully asks “but what can I do about that. I have regularly made movies but once a film is released it becomes the producer’s property. It is the producer’s job to preserve it."

The list goes on with Apanjan, portraying the advent of muscle power in the later half of the ’60s, ekhoni, ek je chilo desh, having totally damaged print. "The producers of the films, K L Kapoor productions closed shop and nothing was heard of his son in this regard."

Comparing film preservation practice here and in Hollywood, Sinha said "an American producer, Ted Turner, bought the rights of MGM’s old negatives for one billion dollars and kept them in archives in perfect dust-free condition. The foreign companies keep the original negatives in much better condition than us."

The Eastern India Film Directors’ Association (EIFDA) would form a committee to trace every missing production print and suggest ways of restoring damaged ones, its general secretary Bimal Bhowmik said when contacted.

The loss of the prints can be attributed to the closure of big film production companies in the city, Bhowmik said.

EIFDA, while scouting for prints of Sinha films, faced the same problem, he said. Of the available ones six films including Kabuliwala, Atithi, Ek Doctor ki Maut would be screened at Nandan from March 25 at the organisation’s initiative.

Bhowmik felt producers should be responsible for preserving prints. However, if the original negative is missing or destroyed there is very dim chance for properly restoring the print. As for preserving existing Sinha films, he said, the state government may be approached to provide space and funding for preserving them in an archive.

Senior functionary of Eastern India Motion Picture’s Association (EIMPA) and film afficionado Sri Panchanan said both the state and Central Governments should come forward in tracing the missing prints and preserving them.

"The prints might be misplaced while being taken outside the country for any festival and the present owner does not want to part with that."

Nandan director Anshu Sur said they would consider preserving Sinha films’ negatives if provided with the same.

Sinha, after making a bit allegorical `Azab gayer azabkatha’ in Bengali for the young, has just completed a children’s film Anokha Moti in Hindi in 35mm.

"I cherish doing children’s film as I feel one with their company. In all my films for children, Safed Hati, Sabuz Dwiper Raja, Aaj Ka Robinhood and now Anokha Moti, I have sought to take away the child away from his stuffy urban interiors to the lap of nature — to forest, island, sea," he said while stating the existence of multiple TV channels, video games and internet in a child’s life today has made his task difficult.

All the children’s films were, however, in good condition lying in the custody of producers R A Jalan, a far cry from Sinha’s experience with some others.

Sinha felt the recent success of Aparna Sen’s Paromitarekdin would bring in a whiff of fresh air in the not-so-promising situation in meaningful Bengali filmmaking.

"It heralds a change, a turnaround. However, we have to see whether that can be sustained," he said.