An engaging talk on restoring the cult classics of Telugu cinema

It came as a pleasant surprise to see an internationally acclaimed filmmaker like Martin Scorsese champion the cause of preserving the legacy of Telugu cinema. “Hyderabad is an important centre of Indian cinema. As the region that produced Savitri, the first film from the East India Film Company, Sankarabharanam, the trailblazing musical drama, Raithu Bidda, an important social reformist film and more, it is a fitting place to focus on the urgent need for film preservation,” said the ace filmmaker, in a video byte screened at the fifth edition of the Film Preservation and Restoration Workshop India 2019 held in the city recently.And the sense of pride was hard to miss on the faces of the host of Tollywood biggies in attendance, all of whom nodded in agreement.

Indeed, Telugu cinema has produced a plethora of cinematic gems and this workshop focused on driving home the importance of restoring and preserving old film negatives. But sadly, many of those have been either lost or are in tatters, confessed Nagarjuna. “Be it Laila Majnu, Devadasu, Missamma or Mayabazar, my father (Akkineni Nageswara Rao) left behind a magnificent body of work. Unfortunately, original prints of many of his classics no longer exist,” he rued, adding, “The fate of prints of a lot of my films is same. Geetanjali (1989) is gone. The negatives of Shiva (1990) are also in bad condition.”

The highlight of the do was a practical session demonstrating the nuances of analysing and restoring old film negatives, conducted by Marianna de Sanctis, head of film repair at L’Immagine Ritrovata in Bologna. David Walsh, training and outreach coordinator, International Federation of Film Archives, Dr Nora Kennedy, in charge, Department of Photograph Conservation, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and Ray Edmondson, founder of the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia, were the other foreign dignitaries present.

“I am immensely proud and excited to be part of such an incredible initiative to revive lost art. India plays a massive role in providing some of the best films, with the biggest audience so it really is essential to save all these movies,” said Dr Nora Kennedy, lauding the initiative.

Several bigwigs of the Tollywood industry — Chiranjeevi, SS Rajamouli, Amala Akkineni, Suresh Babu, Shobu Yarlagadda and Jamuna J, to name a few — also spoke about the need to preserve our
cinematic heritage. “The aim isn’t just to save physical reels of the film, but also the works and memories of thousands of people who have entertained us over the years. Through this restoration process, we can ensure that future generations get to watch and appreciate our films and remember us and the craze for films that we saw in our time,” said Chiranjeevi.

“Films are an integral part of our lives and archiving them is a way of preserving our visual history, heritage and our memories,” emphasised multiple National Award-winning director, Shyam Benegal who was the guest of honour at the event.

Amitabh Bachchan also lent his support for the initiative through a video clip. “The Telugu industry is amongst the most prolific of our regional film industries and one that holds an incredible sway over the imagination of the public, the most obvious example would be Baahubali that took the entire nation by storm. I hope we succeed in reviving the cult classics that this industry has given to the world of films,” echoed Big B’s booming voice across the hall as the audience broke into a thundering applause.