Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, Founder Director of Film Heritage Foundaiton of India, who is heardling the digital restoration of such filmy classics speaks.
Over a decade of its existence Film Heritage Foundation of India (FHFI) has restored 10 Indian films, from not so well kept celluloid film reels to world class digital formats. And such film is Manthan,( The churning) produced by 500,000 Gujarat milk producing farmers and directed by Shyam Benegal , on the amazing story of the farmers behind the “ Amul “ brand of milk and milk products. The film is being released in theatres across India, after almost 40 years, a rare tribute to a film of historic significance.
The event is all because of one man and his love for films and its restoration, Mr Shivender Singh Dugapur, an Film and Television Institute of India , Pune, graduate, and his pioneering work with Film Heritage Foundation. Initially one got an impression that he is replicating what National Film Archive of India (NFAI) owned by the Government was doing, but with NFAI amalgamated with the bureaucrat headed National Film Development Corporation, such innovation like digital mastering and restorations have gone beyond NFAI. That is where the significance of public re-release of Manthan becomes a milestone for a film crazy country.
As digitally restored great films have become part of International film festivals across India, as part of the global film heritage, many of the FHFI films restored were premiered at Cannes Film festival in France. They include Ishano , a Manipuri classic by Aribam Shyam Sharma, Thampu , a Malayalam film by G Aravindan and Manthan in the last edition of Cannes. So far FHFI has restored six Indian films and they include Kummatty , Malayalam film by G Aravindan , Ghatashradda , a Kannada film by Girish Kasaravalli, Maya Mriga, an Oriya film by Nirad Mahapatra apart from the three films mentioned earlier. I spoke to Shivender Singh about the ongoing restoration of films and its significance. Excerpts:
1. As the world is going digital, what is the need and significance of digitization and digital reconstruction of films?
I discovered that India had lost a colossal amount of our film heritage during the making of my film “Celluloid Man.” A large part of India’s over century old film heritage is on celluloid, as we were shooting on film till as recently as 2014, even after the advent of digital technology. Celluloid is fragile and deteriorates unless kept in temperature and humidity controlled conditions. In India, we have lost a colossal amount of this heritage due to ignorance, apathy and neglect so it is very important that we preserve what is left of this heritage in its original format.
With the advent of digital technology, digitization of celluloid material became an aspect of film preservation through duplication for ease of access and exhibition of films. However, it is not a substitute for the preservation of the original material. This misconception has led to filmmakers and producers discarding their original camera negatives and prints after putting them through a scanner. Digitizing a film is not making an exact replica of the film as it is necessary to understand that celluloid and digital are different mediums. Digitizing a film is merely creating an approximation of the original in a different format. A 4K scan of a celluloid film is a tiny approximation in bits and bytes of the depth and resolution of the photochemical medium. It is like saying a photograph of a Van Gogh painting is the same as the original. Digital technology is still evolving. We are digitizing at 4K today with 8K around the corner and we know the march of the Ks will only continue as technology keeps changing and older technologies and software becomes obsolete.Filmmakers and producers will have to go back to their negatives and prints to rescan them till digital technology evolves to the extent that it can match the depth and resolution of the photochemical medium.
Celluloid continues to be the only proven medium for preservation with a longevity of over a hundred years. If films on celluloid are stored and maintained in optimum conditions, they can survive for decades which are why we can still watch films from the silent era. However, in the case of digital formats there is no single format that offers a solution for long-term preservation. Hard disks are not preservation formats as they have a shelf life of just three to five years. Also, with constantly changing technology, software and hardware, digital preservation requires constant migration and data storage facilities which can be very expensive in the long run. This is the digital dilemma that the whole world is facing. Currently Linear Tape Open 8 (LTO 8) for storage and 4 K resolution are the standard, but 8K is around the corner as is the next level of LTOs.
Digital technology and software has also enabled the digital restoration of films, but as in the case of any technology, it is not the technology, but its judicious, responsible and ethical use in restoration that is important. You can do anything with technology today, but the question is, should you? To continue the Van Gogh analogy, you could make the sunflowers in the iconic “Sunflowers” painting blue, but that is not restoration.
2. How do you differentiate between digitalization and digital reconstruction?
Digitization is merely creating a digital copy of a celluloid film by putting it through a film scanner. Once again this is not as simple a process as putting a paper through a photocopying machine. One needs to assess the condition of the celluloid material, clean and repair it if required depending on its condition and prepare it before putting it through a scanner. Film scanning also needs training and understanding of the material to decide how to achieve the best possible results. Digital restoration begins after the film has been scanned and refers to processes like digital cleanup of issues like scratches, tears, dirt, flicker, colour correction etc. to restore the film as closely as possible to the original creator’s vision.
By definition, restoration means the process of returning an item, in this case, a film format, to a known earlier state. It involves not just the repair of physical damage or deterioration of the film, but takes into account the intent of the original creator, the artistic integrity, accuracy and completeness of the film. It involves complex and exacting processes including research, selection, physical repair, cleaning and various photochemical and digital techniques for repairing the image and creating new materials.
The approach for restoring a movie is the same as restoring a manuscript or a work of art. You don’t work on a photocopy, but restore the original and it involves months of work. The task of restoration also involves studying the film and its production history, understanding the filmmaker’s vision or his limitations, knowing the work of the cinematographer, the art director, the costume designer, etc. and this is where the preservation of film ephemera like scripts, director’s notes or diaries, posters, lobby cards, song booklets, shot breakdowns, etc. plays a crucial role as they can give the restorers clues to any gaps of information they might be hampered by.
It begins with research, the involvement of the director and the cameraman if they are still available, the search for the best possible source material and repair of the original camera negative or print before scanning and digital restoration. The usual process is to identify the best source material, inspect, clean and repair the celluloid material before doing a scan, followed by a digital clean-up and colour correction and then output on DCP, Blu-ray or a new celluloid preservation print depending on the plans for exhibition and public access.
This was the process that was followed on the recent restoration of G. Aravindan’s “Kummatty” that we collaborated with Martin Scorsese’s The Film Foundation and Cineteca di Bologna that was restored at the L’Immagine Ritrovata lab in Bologna. We were fortunate to have detailed inputs from the cinematographer Shaji N. Karun and Ramu Aravindan, the son of the filmmaker, to ensure that we stayed as true as possible to G. Aravindan’s original vision. We are now embarking on the restoration of G. Aravindan’s “Thamp” where we will follow the same process to ensure a world-class restoration.
3. What is the need of the hour in Indian film,digitizations or digital reconstruction?
In my opinion, in the case of celluloid films, the most important thing is to first collect and preserve as much of this heritage as one can. That has been the focus of Film Heritage Foundation. Archives around the world chart out digitization programmes of their film collections based on several parameters including the condition, age and rarity of the material and of course the budget and long-term digital preservation plan. What is important to keep in mind when formulating policy and implementation of digitization programmes is not the quantity of films, but the quality of the digitization. It is important that quality checking and control is maintained when scanning the films.
As far as film restoration is concerned that’s the next stage. For if you have not preserved, you will have nothing to restore. Having said that, it has also been said “preservation without access is just hoarding”. Films are meant for public consumption and right from the earliest days of cinema, watching films has been a communal shared experience. Therefore, restoration as well as exhibition, curation and public access are key elements of preservation. The idea behind preserving our film legacy is that future generations will get the opportunity to view the works of filmmakers and artists that came before.
Restoration becomes important in this context as when you restore a film, you give it a new life. World-class film restorations of classics are given red-carpet premieres at the most prestigious film festivals: Uday Shankar’s classic “Kalpana” (1948) was restored by Martin Scorsese’s The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project and the restored version was given a red carpet premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in 2012. Similarly, Satyajit Ray’s “Apu Trilogy” was restored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences and The Criterion Collection and the restored films were given a theatrical release in the United States. In addition, quality Blu-Rays and DVDs, streaming platforms and film festivals ensure that these films are made available for viewing all over again and there is definitely an audience for these films across all platforms.
4. What could be the criterion for such digital storage of Indians film, as huge numbers are lying across the country?
Long-term digital preservation is an entirely different challenge. We continue to churn out endless petabytes of data and content that requires huge server space and innumerable tapes. There is still no guaranteed digital format and so digital preservation requires constant migration and upgradation. In India, every stakeholder producing and making digital films, needs to bear the expense and responsibility of preserving their films. Producers need to build a preservation budget into their production budget. Film Heritage Foundation currently archives digital material too, but our long-term strategy is to have a centre for digital preservation that can work with the film industry and other stakeholders for moving image content on the digital format.
5. What is your view of the National Film Heritage project launched by the Central govnt when India celebrated 100 years of its film sector? Has it served its purpose so far?
The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India, more specifically Raghvendra Singh, the Additional Secretary at the time, reached out to me in 2013 saying that they were planning a National Film Heritage Mission and asked if I could make a presentation on a roadmap for the project. We worked on a detailed proposal that was submitted to the government, which clearly served as a catalyst.The National Film Heritage Mission (NFHM) was announced in November 2014 with a budget allocation of Rs. 597 crores to be deployed in instalments till 2020-21 with the NFAI selected as the implementing agency. The goal was the restoration of 1050 feature films and 960 shorts, digitization of 1050 features and 1200 shorts, construction of vaults of international standards and training programmes. In 2016, Film Heritage Foundation conducted an intensive 10-day film preservation training workshop at the NFAI to train and upgrade the skills of the NFAI personnel as we knew that they would be starting work on NFHM.
I think it is great that the government has woken up to the fact that our film heritage needs to be preserved and has allotted funds for this. As far as the implementation of NFHM is concerned, I cannot comment on whether it has served its purpose as I am not privy to any reports on their targets and achievements. With an industry that is producing over 2000 films in 50 languages from all over the country, I have always believed that we need many archives around the country run by trained and qualified archivists to preserve our film heritage and it cannot be solely the responsibility of the government. Around the world countries have multiple film archives and even universities and museums have their own film collections and archives. We are lagging far behind in this respect.
6. FHF has conducted series of workshops across India and what has been its impact?
One of the earliest challenges we faced when we set up the foundation in 2014, was the lack of trained film archivists and conservators. With no educational courses in film preservation and the workforce available from defunct film labs being just a step above manual labour with a focus on film cleaning and rewinding, this was an issue that needed to be addressed right away. We realized that the only way to tackle this challenge was to train and develop a local resource of film archivists and restorers. Faced with a lack of Indian trainers, we decided to partner with the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) for the country’s first-ever film preservation and restoration workshop that we held in Mumbai in 2015. We opened applications to our neighbouring countries like Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan that either had no film preservation culture to speak of or archives that needed help.
The first workshop was a huge success thanks also to the curriculum put together by David Walsh, currently the Training & Outreach Coordinator, FIAF and our collaboration with FIAF that helped us put together a superb faculty from premier film archives around the world. We decided we were going to make the film preservation and restoration workshop an annual event and would follow a travelling school format to target our linguistically and geographically diverse film culture.
These workshops were not easy to mount given the lack of local trainers and infrastructure, not to mention funding. With most film labs becoming defunct and conservation material being hard to come by in India, every workshop in effect means that we have had to set up film repair and digital restoration labs in venues that are just empty rooms for the most part. And that means importing everything from film scanners to bobbins to film cement to erasers, making rewinding tables from scratch, arranging tables and chairs, HDMI monitors, cables, restoration software, and hardware – all of which would be taken for granted in other parts of the world that are decades ahead in the race to save films.
We conducted the second workshop at the NFAI in Pune; the 2017 workshop was held in Chennai, the fourth workshop in Kolkata in 2018 and the last physical workshop in Hyderabad in December 2019. In 2020, despite the pandemic, we went virtual and conducted the first online edition of our film preservation workshop. With every passing year, we have expanded and improved the curriculum based on feedback from the participants and faculty to cover almost every aspect of film preservation including film identification and repair, scanning, paper and photograph conservation, digital preservation and restoration, archive management, exhibition and access. In the Hyderabad workshop we were successfully able to run basic and advanced courses with streams of specialization.
Despite the struggle for funds, we decided to keep the course fee extremely subsidized to encourage participants even from lower economic strata to have the opportunity to be introduced to film preservation as a possible means of livelihood and a viable career opportunity. Right from the start, we ensured that scholarships were available for promising participants who would find even the subsidized fee a challenge. Till 2020, we have trained close to 300 participants out of which more than a third have done the course for free inclusive of accommodation and meals thanks to scholarships from the Tata Trusts, FIAF and sponsors. The participants have included personnel working in government archives and cultural institutions, library science and museology graduates, conservators, filmmakers, cinematographers, film editors, heads of film departments in universities and journalists. Many alumni of our workshops are working at the NFAI implementing the NFHM and at Film Heritage Foundation. In December 2020 one of our alumni reached out to us on behalf of the Manipur State Government, to ask for our help in setting up a film archive there. Subsequently we signed an MOU with the Manipur government to help them set up the first film archive in the northeast of India. Last year our team travelled to Manipur to conduct a training workshop and advised them on building their film vaults and archive for film memorabilia. We are also collaborating with them on the restoration of one of their earliest films “Brojendragee Luhongba” directed by S.N. Chand. We are very proud of our in-house team of conservators who we trained from scratch and who are now repairing and chemically treating films, salvaging them from being written off. Our annual workshops have been acknowledged by FIAF as the model for their international training programmes and have started a movement to save films not just in India but in the subcontinent with both Sri Lanka and Nepal well on their way to setting up film archives and digitization programmes thanks to their participation in our workshops.
An amazing endorsement of our work happened in 2019 when Mariam Ghani (the daughter of the former President of Afghanistan and a filmmaker herself) reached out to us to ask if the archivists from the Presidential Palace Film Archive and the Afghan Film Institute could attend our workshop in Hyderabad as bringing trainers to Kabul was impossible given the security issues. Getting the 10 Afghan archivists from Kabul to Hyderabad involved much stress about visas and frantic calls to the Indian Ambassador and friends in high places, but finally, they arrived. The archivists from Afghanistan were heroes, having risked their lives to save the films in their archive from being destroyed by the Taliban when they came to power in 1996. We were very pleased that the Afghan archivists also participated in the online edition of our workshop in 2020.
We are very keen not to lose the momentum of what we have created and do a physical workshop this year with hands-on training.
7. India is the outsourcing capital of IT industry and does it have the capability in this sector?
Film restoration is as much of an art in a sense as filmmaking. I have worked with some of the best restoration labs in the world and it is a work of passion and requires an understanding of the archival material you are working with. In my opinion in the area of film preservation, while aspects of digital restoration could be outsourced to India, we still need to train a resource of archivists and restorers to enable world-class restorations especially for scanning, colour correction and sound capture and restoration.
8. You were involved in digital reconstruction of Aravinda’s Kummatty? How the experience and what was are the other films which you got digitally reconstructed and what are the issues in this sector?
While Aravindan is undoubtedly considered a doyen of the alternative cinema movement in India, the circulation of his films has been diminishing with the passage of time. The National Film Archive of India (NFAI) in Pune had digitized some of his films a few years ago and “Kummatty” is available on a Youtube channel called Potato Eaters. However, I knew that these versions did not do justice to the original vision of an artist like Aravindan. I knew then that if his films were not restored soon, what would be left would be poor replicas which would reflect a mere shadow of the artistry of the great filmmaker. I began a quest to assess what celluloid elements remained of his films and I soon realized that the situation was urgent as the original camera negatives seemed to be lost and prints that were available were deteriorating rapidly. When Martin Scorsese’s The Film Foundation asked me for my recommendation for Indian films to be restored under the aegis of their foundation, Aravindan’s films were an obvious choice.
It’s been a long and challenging journey since 2018 when I made the first phone call to Bina Paul, the Artistic Director of the International Film Festival of Kerala broaching the idea of restoring Aravindan’s films. She was very excited and introduced me to the filmmaker’s son Ramu Aravindan who in turn introduced me to the producer, K. Ravindranathan Nair. After almost a year of emails and calls with his son Prakash, he finally agreed to meet me. I travelled to Kollam in Kerala on February 1, 2020 and spoke to him about our desire to do a 4K restoration of two of Aravindan’s films “Kummatty” and “Thamp”. He readily gave his permission to restore the films and promptly issued all the formal letters and NOCs so that we could begin work.
Once we had the official go ahead, we put out a call through the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) to member archives and institutions all around the world searching for best available source elements that we could use for the restoration of the film. For a film restoration, the best element is the original camera negative, but sadly, as I had feared, none of the original camera negatives of Aravindan’s films survived – they had all melted and nothing could be salvaged from the liquefied celluloid. The loss of the original camera negative was a big blow as prints can never give you the same latitude as a negative.
I remembered that in a conversation with P.K. Nair, the former Director of the National Film Archive of India (NFAI), he had mentioned that their collection included prints of “Kummatty” including an unsubtitled one. I checked with the late Kiran Dhiwar, Film Preservation Officer at NFAI who confirmed that the archive had two prints of the film. On the producers’ request, the NFAI made arrangements for me to check the prints at the archive. Accordingly, I travelled to Pune with Pravin Singh Sisodia, our foundation’s film conservator. On inspection, we found that the prints were not in great condition. However, the prints were shipped to the L’Immagine Ritrovata lab in Bologna as they were the best elements we could find.
The restoration itself was very challenging. Cecilia Cenciarelli of Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna sent us the lab inspection report which was daunting. On inspection, the lab found that both the prints had a lot of wear and tear and were very dirty and deeply scratched. One of the prints presented a consistent vertical green line on the right-hand side of the image, which required painstaking frame-by-frame manual work to be removed. The colour of the positive was decayed and the film’s natural environment, an essential character of the film, had completely lost it rich palette of skies, grasslands and foliage and become all magenta presenting a real challenge for Diego the technician who had to spend days working on the colour grading to get it right. Even with highly skilled technicians working with the latest digital technology, the lab said that there were still sections of the film where details of the film could not be recovered and were lost due to the poor condition of the print and consequently the scanned image.
We were very fortunate that Ramu Aravindan had photographs of the shooting location which served as a crucial reference for the colourist. Additionally, we were very grateful that Shaji N. Karun, who had shot so many of Aravindan’s films and worked so closely with him, made himself available for several long Zoom calls along with myself and Ramu Aravindan and the colourist at the lab in Bologna to ensure that Aravindan’s original vision was honoured to the best possible standard. Normally this would have been done physically sitting with the colourist at the lab. Doing this remotely over Zoom calls and checking file transfers was a long and arduous process. Being a musician, Aravindan was very particular about the seamless blending of the music and sound design of his films. Unfortunately, in the case of “Kummatty” we were hampered once again by the fact that we did not have the original sound negative and were working with the sound from the print, which was far from ideal. Ramu Aravindan helped us to source his father’s quarter-inch tapes and we digitized about fifteen of them in the hope of finding better source material, but there was none. As a result, the sound engineers at the lab had to spend many hours cleaning up and remastering the sound.
But the result more than made up for all the struggles and pitfalls we had faced. The restored film was screened at the Il Cinema Ritrovato festival in Bologna on July 25, 2021. The audience were blown away by the imagery, colour and sheer poetry of the film, which shone like a jewel on the big screen. I wish Aravindan could have been there to see his film get a new life and be by our side as we begin the journey to restore his film “Thamp”.
