I feel lucky: Expert Gautami Khanvilkar on film repair and restoration

Trained in museology and conservation, Gautami has joined a small, specialised league of film repair experts

Gautami Khanvilkar hails from Pune and lives in Mumbai. She is among the many young experts participating in the India International Film Festival in Goa. Trained in museology and conservation, she has joined a small, specialised league of film repair experts. Gautami spoke to Showtime about her passion for restoration, and the many challenges in her line of work. Excerpts:

What exactly does film repair involve?

I basically repair old celluloid films and prepare them for scanning and digitisation. The archives source these films. Or directors or producers deposit their film material with the archives. Preservation calls for the right temperature and a secure environment. Archives provide these because they have the space and the resources. They have temperature-controlled vaults to keep films. Once a film is deposited with an archive, a schedule is followed in terms of cleaning and repairing.

Also Read: Quizzed at IFFI about faith, Rishab says 'Cinema is God'

And what are the challenges of repairing films?

Every film is in a different condition. So accordingly you repair. First of all, there is an inspection, where you basically note down the condition of the film. You rewind the reels and see what condition they are in, and depending on that, you come up with a treatment plan. We use film tapes and film cement and depending on whether the film is polyester or acetate, we do the repair.

You work on three kinds of negatives...

Yes. They stopped the production of nitrate film in the 1950s because it was inflammable. Nitrate films are kept in separate enclosures, away from other material. We work with three kinds of negatives — nitrate, acetate and polyester.

Tell us about the most exciting restoration project that you have worked on.

I loved the time when I was working at Film Heritage Foundation in Mumbai, and there was a collaboration for the digitisation of Mani Ratnam’s works. I was lucky enough to work on Roja, Bombay, Iruvar, Thiruda Thiruda, Alai Payuthey and other films. It is nice to be able to see every frame shot by great cinematographers.

How do you handle material that is old and brittle?

It is not easy working with old, damaged films, and films that are warped and can’t be rewound. And 16 mm and 8 mm films… it’s like the size is small and when the footage is damaged, it is tricky to handle because it sort of turns to dust. And sometimes we have to work with completely stuck reels.

Which is the oldest film you have worked on?

I was lucky enough to see rare footage somebody had shot of Satyajit Ray, and also some footage that he had shot himself. It was exciting to see Ray’s work and sort of at least touch it and rewind it if nothing else!

How did you train for this job?

I did my bachelor’s in art history and master’s in museology, both from MS University, and I studied conservation.

What do you look forward to? How can we better archive Indian cinema?

Since we have many film industries, we have a lot of material. Important cinema has been made in many languages. I think we are not doing badly. We are still in the early stages though.