This is a nice article. One may disagree with the list of movies, but the intention is worth a thought. The Raja Sen 'fans' would be quiet for a change :).
It will be great if Mr. Raja Sen addresses the great artistes mentioned in the article with some respect. Case in point Pandit Ravi Shankar, Ustad Amir Khan and Ustad Vilayat Khan have been stripped off of their titles. Please take care of these small things when you post an article. These maestros have earned those titles and it would be great if you show a semblance of respect.
This is one of the better article that i have seen under rediff movies. These movies definitely need to be digitally restored and need to be preserved for the upcoming movie directors and also for the hardcore movie fans
Digitization is extremely necessary.. no question... however just wanted to add that you can still savor the e-prints of some of these.. e.g. I viewed Do Aankhen Baara Haath today through some links ( probably illegal uploads) at youtube, and the quality of sound or picture wasnt bad at all.. But it goes to show that cinema students, clubs, old film industry stalwarts and connoisseurs could collectively collaborate even now to help restore many of the forgotten films.. Film schools and Govt. should definitely take the lead and have sustained will ..
I would applaud REdiff for pointing it. We need to restore these at the earliest. I am sure this list is not exhaustive, but some where it needs to be started.
Such a shame to read about how these classics are treated. I can't believe Alam Ara was lost in 2003, that is after the era of VCRs and DVD players had already started. Surely someone made a copy? Why don't they show these films on TV instead of the endless repeats of the likes of Apne???
pundalik pundalik, etc etc ... the problem is we don't have a sense of history Just see how the Americans tried to restore the hell cat, a vintage world war II machine, and gave an opportunity to one of the hell cat commanders an 89 year old veteran of WWII.. neither do we try understand our history. These give an opportunity to learn from history and right the wrongs.
