Return of the classics

Following the success of Amitabh Bachchan, Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand retrospectives, multiplexes are planning more such screenings for yesteryear actors, directors and technicians, writes Roshmila Bhattacharya

One of the challenges the cinema industry faced post pandemic was bringing back audiences to movie theatres. Most were more comfortable watching movies in their homes.

To help remedy the situation, founder-director of the Film Heritage Foundation (FHF) and archivist Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, proposed to Ajay Bijli, the founder of PVR Cinemas, a retrospective for Amitabh Bachchan’s 80th birthday. “Ajay wanted to limit it to just one Mumbai theatre, PVR, Juhu, but I insisted we expand its reach even though I wasn’t sure people would come,” Dungarpur admitted.

‘Bachchan: Back to the Beginning’ screened 11 popular films of the actor, including ‘Abhimaan’, ‘Deewar’, ‘Chupke Chupke’ and ‘Don’. They were shown on 30 screens at 22 cinemas across 19 cities in October 2022. Tickets were priced between Rs 150 and Rs 250. The festival was a hit and marked a turnaround for the industry.

Enthused, FHF, PVR and INOX then collaborated on a two-day retrospective, ‘Dilip Kumar: Hero of Heroes’, in December, the same year. The thespian’s birth centenary was celebrated with ‘Aan’, ‘Devdas’, ‘Ram Aur Shyam’ and ‘Shakti’. They were screened in over 50 screens across 20 cities.

In September last year, FHF and NFDC — National Film Archive of India, in association with PVR INOX, presented ‘Dev Anand @100 — Forever Young’ screening four milestone films, ‘C I D’, ‘Guide’, Jewel Thief’ and ‘Johny Mera Naam’, in 58 cinemas across 30 cities.

“Sadly, we could find only four films despite youngsters wanting to watch cinema they weren’t a part of,” rues Shivendra, recalling how the Bachchan festival in France drew viewers in their 20s and a screening of Ashok Kumar’s ‘Mahal’ last year at Mumbai’s Regal theatre brought an audience of 1,000-plus in the driving rain. Many of them were youngsters who had never seen a 35 mm print before.

Confident of the trend catching on, he shared that FHF is planning retrospectives of Raj Kapoor, Tapan Sinha and Akkineni Nageshwara Rao in their centenary year, along with screenings of cinematographer V K Murthy’s films.

Film archivist S M M Ausaja, who had curated an exhibition of Bachchan memorabilia at PVR during the retrospective insists that retro cinema will always have an audience and the magic of big screen entertainment remains unrivalled despite DVDs, YouTube, Blu-ray, streaming platforms and dedicated cinema channels. “Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand and Amitabh Bachchan are greats whose films we’ve grown up watching and the new generation has grown up hearing of. Both generations want to experience anew the magic of their movies on the big screen evident from the clamour for ‘Don’ tickets during the Bachchan retrospective,” he reminisces, confident that if tickets are reasonably priced, such screenings will pack in the crowds.

Exhibitor-distributor Akkshay Rathie agrees that the films in our archives are worth their weight in gold even though their look and feel is different because of its solid storytelling. “They can become interesting propositions for cinema connoisseurs, but you can’t just paradrop them into the theatres. Like FHF partnered with cinema chains well in advance and targeted a specific audience, producers, distributors, exhibitors and content aggregators have to come up with a focussed marketing strategy and package such screenings with Q-and-A sessions with the cast and crew to spark interest,” he opines.

Filmmaker Nikkhil Advani, an advisory board member of Cinema House at G5A, in collaboration with renowned actor, Irrfan’s wife Sutapa Sikdar and Anuradha Parikh, is organising a three-day retrospective of the late actor in Mumbai between January 26 and 28. Along with nine of Irrfan’s films — ‘Maqbool’, ‘The Warrior’, ‘Paan Singh Tomar’, ‘The Namesake’, ‘Qissa’, ‘The Lunchbox’, ‘Piku’, ‘Qarib Qarib Singlle’ and ‘Talvar’ — some of his short films, like ‘Migration’ and ‘Road to Ladakh’, and episodes from the televised Star Bestseller series will be showcased.

Nikkhil, who directed him in ‘D-Day’, believes Irrfan’s popularity has escalated after his untimely demise in 2020. “He was a cut above the rest and there are chat rooms dedicated to discussing his work. There’s a huge audience out there which discovered Irrfan when he was alive, and continue to discover him even now because he epitomised quality. For them what can be better than just a screening of his work is a discussion with filmmakers, co-actors and technicians like Ritesh Batra, Shoojit Sircar, Vishal Bhardwaj, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Naseeruddin Shah and Juhi Chaturvedi,” the filmmaker asserts.

Sanjeev Kumar Bijli, executive director, PVR INOX Limited, points out that the retro film festivals organised by them have achieved remarkable success, allowing the younger generations to discover and admire classic movies that they may not have had the chance to see in theatres. “The re-release of such movies demands significant resources for restoration and remastering to ensure an enhanced viewing experience on today’s technologically advanced screens. With a limited screening window, these festivals generate the necessary excitement and buzz to promote these cinematic gems and attract audiences,” he shared.

PVR INOX in their Nostalgia Festival which began yesterday, is featuring popular Shah Rukh Khan movies, ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’, ‘Dil To Pagal Hai’ and ‘Chak De! India’ across 60 cinemas in 30 cities.