Mani’s classics get 8K digitisation
The trail-blazing effort is to preserve the films for posterity
The body of work by Mani Ratnam, considered a filmmaker ahead of his times, is being curated and digitalised in 8K resolution, a first attempt of its kind in India, and preserved at the Film Heritage Foundation (FHF). The maverick filmmaker has directed just films so far in a career spanning 38 years. The FHF, set up by Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, is dedicated to supporting the conservation, preservation and restoration of moving images. Confirming the news, Shivendra tells DC how it all started. “During a conversation with Mani Sir during my workshop on film preservation and restoration conducted in Chennai in 2017, we realised that the original negatives and prints of several of his films were in very poor condition. Mani’s films are treasures that need to be preserved and maintained. I suggested that we work out an urgent digitisation project to save the films for posterity.”
Giving details, Shivendra said, “We decided to embark on an 8K digitisation project, the first such in India. So far, we have been using only 4K digitalisation.”
He said all the 26 films of Mani Ratnam, including Thalapathy (1991), Roja (1992), Thiruda Thiruda (1993), Bombay (1995), and Yuva (2004) are part of FHF’s archive in Mumbai. “The digital transformation is being carried out by Prasad Corporation Pvt Ltd., in Chennai. Our conservators cleaned and repaired 26 the film elements, both negatives and prints, and sent the reels in an air-conditioned vehicle by road from Mumbai to Chennai. The work has been going on for the last eight months,” Shivendra explained. He clarified that this mammoth effort is being taken only to archive and preserve the legendary filmmaker’s classic works and not for OTT purposes, as reported in a section of the media.