In an interesting and interactive session titled 'Beyond Nostalgia: The Business of Restoring Classics', a panel of filmmakers and film exhibitors/distributors came together to discuss the how, why and when of restoring classics, as well as the pros and cons of re-releasing old movies in a "new, almost repackaged way", and if the audiences really want that at all.
The discussion took place at the World Audio Visual and Entertainment Summit (WAVES) 2025, on a hot Saturday afternoon, but the coolness inside Room 205 on the second floor of the Jio Convention Centre kept the conversation lively and spirited.
The panel comprised of Kamal Gianchandani, Chief of Business Planning & Strategy at PVR INOX Limited, Jackky Bhagnani, film producer, Shehzad Sippy of Sippy Entertainment and Prakash Magdum, managing director at the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC). The conversation began with a discussion on the significance of restoring cinematic gems for contemporary audiences and the challenges therein.
When you restore films, in a way you are helping the preservation costs, because restoration is a lengthy process, so in case the original negative is not there, you are searching for the elements and there are surprises in store. Maybe you can cut out one reel from that and use it for restoring the film. This entire process helps in preservation of films, especially to prevent the loss of heritage. The government of India has launched an ambitious project, 'National Film Heritage Mission', dedicated to the preservation, digitisation and restoration of films.
"Digitisation is important because when we talk about the 4K technology, suppose the physical element of a film is lost, but if it is digitised at least we can use it for any other purpose, and then maybe you can restore it on a later date with any upcoming technology at the time," Magdum said.
"The government has a target of digitising 5000 films which I feel is an ambitious project but it is a part of the Indian heritage and the government is proud to take a lead in that," he added.
Taran Adarsh, who moderated the session, asked Shehzad Sippy (who now helms his grandfather G.P. Sippy's legacy) a question, in light of the Film Heritage Foundation orchestrating the restoration of Sholay as it commemorates its golden jubilee this year: “how far should restorers go to improve a film like Sholay, or for that matter, why should filmmakers of today touch, or rather, re-touch age-old gems at all?”
Sippy answered that his goal at the moment was to retain as much of the original as possible.
"Even in the colour grading process, we are going to try to match the colours to the original as much as possible, although we don't really know what exactly they looked like, but a few senior DOPs are trying to accomplish that. So we will not try to improve it too much, that is for sure," he said.
Adding to Sippy's statement, Bhagnani said that he was "very excited" with the idea of using "AI and digitisation”, choosing Amitabh Bachchan's film 'Silsila' to be digitised and created as a new film that he felt would “become an integral part of restoring classic characters using technology".
In response to Bhagnani's "excitement", Magdum said that one should exercise caution as "these are ethical questions and one must tread carefully".
"There are certain guidelines and one of them is also that one mustn't colourise black and white films. These are basic tenets: one must understand that the original filmmaker has made the film with a certain intention and with the technology available at the time. So whether you should be altering it to a large extent is not advisable," he said.
However, the room was divided when asked if they'd prefer watching a black and white film in colour at all or would rather watch the original as is. Most of them said that they would not mind watching the coloured version.
Gianchandani said that it is a "subjective" decision for any filmmaker and restorer—whether they'd want to colour a black and white film or not.
"Some films might get a new lease of life by adding colour to them, but then there are films which were made in the era of colour films, but purposely in black and white. Now would we want to colour them? Maybe not. So the answer would differ from film to film."
Do restored classics influence contemporary filmmakers? Both Bhagnani and Sippy agreed, and said they were "100 per cent fully influenced, especially by the way the films were made with limited means back then." Sippy felt that filmmaking was a different art back then, and audiences today are curious to experience that era, but restoration demands significant investments of money, time, and skilled resources.
Speaking on the subject of re-releases of films like the 'Darr' or 'Biwi No 1', they all agreed that "it is very difficult to tell which film will work out."
"We thought that a re-release of 3 Idiots or Lagaan would definitely work and bring people back to the theatres but that clearly did not happen," says Gianchandani, who had an 'Aamir Khan Film Festival,' at PVR INOX as a build up to the marketing campaign ahead of his 'Sitare Zameen Par'.
