NFAI Pune restores 1960 classic Barsaat ki Raat, first to be revived under restoration project
The original print of the film was preserved by the archive for more than 46 years, the release stated
The 1960-classic Barsaat Ki Raat starring Madhubala and Bharat Bhushan in lead roles has been digitised and restored from a 35mm Master Positive by the National Film Archives of India (NFAI). The film is the first to be restored by NFAI under the restoration project, as part of the National Film Heritage Mission, funded by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, according to a release by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
The original print of the film was preserved by the archive for more than 46 years, the release stated.
“A group of trained film restoration professionals of NFAI worked for months through a rigorous process to digitise the original print. The 35mm Master Positive was scanned with utmost care, in 4K resolution on ARRISCAN XT, with a state-of-the-art archival film scanner. This was followed by the digital restoration of both picture and audio,” stated the release.
During restoration, each frame was painstakingly worked on by fixing time-induced defects, such as scratches, dust, vertical bands, heavy flicker, splice marks, hiss, noise, and pop. This will enable contemporary cinema audiences to experience the film as it was witnessed by audiences at the time of its release.
The musical, directed by P. L. Santoshi, explores the love story between Aman (Bharat Bhushan), a poet-singer, and Shabnam (Madhubala), a mysterious woman he meets one rainy night. As her parents oppose the union, Aman leaves Hyderabad for Lucknow, where he enters the heady world of qawwali compositions and competitions.The music of the film, composed by Roshan with lyrics by Sahir Ludhianvi, was widely loved by cinema and music lovers, with playback singers including Manna Dey, Mohammed Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle.
In its new digitised avatar, the film was screened for fans for the very first time at the National Museum of Indian Cinema (NMIC) in Mumbai on Saturday.
