NEW DELHI — India will be represented Saturday in the Cannes Classic programme with the screening of a restored version of 1984 classic “Khandahar” (“The Ruins”) directed by acclaimed Indian director Mrinal Sen.
The extensive restoration of the film was undertaken by film services facility Reliance MediaWorks as part of the National Film Archive of India’s initiative for digital restoration of over 1,000 classic films, including 17 by Sen.
The project was undertaken at RMW’s 90,000-square-foot Mumbai facility which adheres to Motion Picture Association of America standards.
Starring Shabana Azmi, “Khandahar” tells the story of a city-based photographer who falls in love with a heartbroken woman living in a ruined village.
RMW repaired “Khandahar” while its color grading was done under the guidance of veteran director Govind Nihalani. After its restoration, the film was then digitally captured in 2K resolution, without any pre-processing, using a film scanner specially designed for scanning archival films that preserved the resolution and arrangement without clipping or crushing the image of the original film.
“In a relatively short time frame, RMW has established an integrated international presence in the film restoration service space and offers high-end restoration and image enhancement services across India, U.S., U.K. and Japan. We are honored to have worked on restoring “Khandahar” and excited that the film has been recognized in the Cannes Classics 2010 section,” RMW CEO Anil Arjun said.
