The National Film Archive of India (NFAI), which has restored and preserved many of filmmaker G. Aravindan’s path-breaking movies, recently received a delightful gift from the director’s family.
On the sidelines of the Bengaluru International Film Festival, Aravindan’s son Ramu Aravindan donated two boxes of photographs and other material connected to his father’s films to the NFAI collection.
NFAI director Prakash Magdum said he was excited about the donation, which consisted of production stills — prints and transparencies — from Aravindan’s films and documentaries. A few leaflets and handouts on his iconic films also form a part of the collection. “We will get the material digitised. Film researchers will have access to them, and we also plan to use them for suitable thematic exhibitions,” Mr. Magdum said.
During a retrospective of Aravindan’s films two years ago, Mr. Magdum had met the director’s family members in Thiruvananthapuram and had requested them to try and trace any material related to his movies.
The photographs, some of which are several decades old, are in a relatively good condition, said Ramu Aravindan.
“It’s a small collection, though. Many of the photographs are available in the public domain and have been published in Malayalam film magazines,” he said.
For the NFAI, which has paid special attention to Aravindan’s films, the acquisition is valuable. Nine of Aravindan’s movies — Uttarayanam, Kanchana Seeta, Thampu, Esthapan, Kummaty, Pokkuveyil, Chidambaram, Marattam, and Vasthuhara — have been restored by NFAI.