When reels reel under the threat of extinction

Documentary filmmaker Sugeeth Krishnamoorthy’s approach is different. His debut attempt chronicles the century-old history and evolution of Tamil film industry (1916-2016) and focusses on several great classics that are either lost or missing. He goes a step ahead questioning the relevance of film libraries and archives and their functional roles in restoring and preserving the films.

The 100-minute documentary has nine chapters that traces the history of Tamil cinema from the silent era and deals with topics such as preservation, restoration and digitisation. He points out classics like Pavalakodi and Balayogini, are with the National Film Archive of India (NFAI) but out of bounds for the public.

“What prevents NFAI from creating an affordable commercial business model for the copyright films they have. There are films which should have been in public domain after the expiration of the copyright period but they are stuck in film libraries and archives and are available only to limited audience,” he says.

“If you want to see a movie available with NFAI, you need to travel to their premises and pay an exorbitant Rs.2,500 for one time viewing. In fact, NFAI has prints of several films whose copyright has long expired. If an avid film buff requests for a copy of the public domain movies, even for non commercial use, the NFAI refuses to lend,” rues Sugeeth, who is an IT professional turned farmer.

The last chapter of the documentary focuses on why public domain films are bottled up in institutions, when technology and the internet have long conquered such limitations and made information accessible to anyone anywhere at the touch of a button and at affordable costs. It also looks at the incompatibilities between the traditional archival system run by NFAI and the modern world.

Shot with mobile phone and iPad on a shoe-string budget, Sugeeth has not relied much on the technicalities as there are several glitches from lighting to sound. But he never loses focus from the core issue. For the documentary he recorded the views of several stake holders including film historians, Theodore Baskaran and S. Krishnaswamy and directors including Mahendran.

It all began when Sugeeth discovered a copy of Pesumpada Anubavangal written by Pammal Sambandha Mudaliar in Tamil and published in the year 1938. Impressed, he translated it in English Talkie Experiences of Pammal Sambandha Mudaliar and uploaded it in Google books for public benefit. “I felt that it is an important piece of work and needs to be translated (given that there are references in the book, to today's oldest surviving film Sati Sulochana (1934), directed by Pammal Sambandha Mudaliar and the 1936 version of the famous Manohara). More over, Mudaliar, a lawyer himself speaks strongly about copyright issues, back in 1938. It inspired me to embark on the project. There is a co-relation between what is written in the book and the elements discussed in the documentary,” he says.

He also talks about the National Film Heritage Mission programme of NFAI which is planning to restore and digitise some select 1,000 odd films. “But landmark films like Pavalakkodi and Sati Sulochana are not in that list. I have no idea how they decide which films are to be restored and digitised. NFAI has names of movies like Chintamani, Burma Rani and Manonmani. But these films are already available as DVD and digital objects for sometime now. Shouldn’t NFAI be focussing on restoring and digitising sole-surviving films, first?” asks Sugeeth.

“The documentary is a comprehensive work. The filmmaker has done extensive research on the topic. Only a person with a bird’s eye view of Tamil cinema can do this kind of work,” compliments Sundar Kali, a renowned film critic.