To celebrate Satyajit Ray’s 101st birth anniversary, the National Film Development Corporation of India (NFDC) hosted a special screening of Pather Panchali (1955), one of the legend’s most defining works, in Mumbai on Wednesday. Ardent cinephiles will know that the renowned drama has a history of its own. In 1993, the original negatives of many of Ray’s films were shipped to Henderson’s Film Laboratories in south London, from where they were to be taken to the Academy Film Archive for preservation. However, when a fire broke out in July 1993 at the laboratory, it destroyed more than 25 original negatives, including The Apu Trilogy. Fortunately, the films were restored as the negatives were rehydrated, repaired and scanned in 4K resolution as part of Academy Film Archive’s landmark restoration.
The late Satyajit Ray. Pic/Getty Images
Ravinder Bhakar, MD, NFDC, is proud that the organisation could facilitate the restored version’s first screening in the country, along with screening of other movies made by and on Ray. “We are happy to have the Academy-restored print from USA. It’s befitting for the museum to have the best restored version of Satyajit Ray’s most iconic film,” he shares, adding that the National Film Archive of India is restoring 10 more films. “Sonar Kella, Hirak Rajar Deshe and Seemabaddha will be screened.”
