Tollywood! Restore Those Masterpieces

There’s a strange business angle playing out with our classic films these days. While we celebrate them, quote them and call them “evergreen”, there’s nothing when it comes to preserving them properly. Forget about having the original negatives, right now, many classics are some recorded versions from the VCR/VCP players' VHS cassettes. That’s sad.

Because of this happening, even iconic films like Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari and Aditya 369 couldn’t deliver a great visual experience on the silver screen during their re-releases. Audiences still turned up out of love, not because of the print quality or the visual experience altogether. Despite poor restoration work, audiences have showered love, but how long can producers take people for a ride like this?

At this juncture, Nagarjuna’s Shiva stands out as the actor took proper care such that the film could be digitised without damage. Now, the discussion shifts to Tamil film Moondram Pirai, which Telugu audiences know as Vasantha Kokila. Released in 1982 and directed by Balu Mahendra, the film was a classic in every sense. Kamal Haasan and Sridevi delivered performances that stand tall even today. Add to that Ilaiyaraaja’s music, and you had a film that didn’t just run for 100 days, but stayed in memory for decades.

For years, there was no proper remastered version. The only available prints were of poor quality, especially on YouTube. A film of that stature, reduced to that cheap 720p level. Now, finally, the producers have stepped in and brought a remastered version to Amazon Prime Video. Rather than capitalising on the film’s craze, the makers directly put it on Amazon Prime Video. That’s a good sign.

While it took 44 years for this film to be digitised, now imagine dozens of masterpieces across Telugu and Tamil cinema that need restoration. Rather than focusing on re-releasing star hero films for quick bucks, if someone focuses on the preservation of movies, it would be a real help to the industry.