Director John Abraham’s ‘Amma Ariyan’ restored in 4K, will premiere at Cannes film fest

Film auteur John Abraham’s Malayalam political film ‘Amma Ariyan’ (Report to Mother) has been restored in 4K by Film Heritage Foundation (FHF), Mumbai. The film will be screened at the 79th Cannes Film Festival, which begins on May 12. 

This will be FHF’s fifth consecutive year at Cannes and the 1986 avant-garde film will be the only Indian feature at the festival, according to a press statement.

Following the death of a young naxalite, ‘Amma Ariyan’ follows his friends as they journey from the northern hills of Wayanad to southern Kochi to inform his mother of his death. The film is about political disillusionment, memory, and resistance in the 1970s.

The British Film Institute (BFI) regarded the film in its list of ten greatest Indian films of all time. 

John Abraham is widely regarded as one of the most radical voices in Indian cinema. He defied conventional storytelling, polished aesthetics and commercial frameworks to create films that were raw, collective and politically charged. The film is the final work of the filmmaker who made just four films before his untimely death in 1987 at the age of 49.

FHF’s previous restorations include ‘Thamp’, ‘Kummatty’ (Aravindan Govindan), ‘Ishanou’ (Aribam Syam Sharma), ‘Manthan’ (Shyam Benegal), ‘Ghatashraddha (Girish Kasaravalli), ‘Aranyer Din Ratri’ (Satyajit Ray), ‘Gehenu Lamai’ (Sumitra Peries), and ‘Do Bigha Zamin’ (Bimal Roy) among others.

At Cannes this year, ‘Amma Ariyan’ will be presented by Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, director of FHF, Joy Mathew (lead actor), Venu ISC (cinematographer) and Bina Paul (editor).

The film was produced by the Odessa Collective, a group of film enthusiasts co-founded by Abraham. 

A scene from the film restored by Film Heritage Foundation.

A scene from the film restored by Film Heritage Foundation.

Restoration process

According to a press note by FHF, the restoration of ‘Amma Ariyan’ began in 2023. The only available version was a poor-quality online copy. The restoration team found just two 35mm prints at the National Film Archive of India, one subtitled and the other unsubtitled. The prints, accessed in 2024, showed “significant deterioration, including scratches, broken splices and emulsion damage”. The restoration was carried out at L’Immagine Ritrovata, Bologna and Digital Film Restore Pvt Ltd, Chennai. The process involved extensive manual work, particularly in sound, with over 4,000 interventions to address noise, dropouts and inconsistencies. It was closely supervised by Venu ISC and Bina Paul to ensure fidelity to the film’s original aesthetic.