In a significant moment for the Indian film industry, Pyaasa, a timeless cult classic starring Guru Dutt, Waheeda Rehman and Mala Sinha has become the first film to be restored to its original quality for the Venice Film Festival.
The film will compete with 20 other prestigious restored films from all over the world for the coveted “Venice Classics Award” for the best restored film, at the 72nd Venice Film Festival that will be held from September 2-12 in Venice. Ultra Media and Entertainment, who are the negative rights owners of Pyaasa, have restored this film for the occasion with an objective of preserving and presenting it in its original quality to the global audience. The film, which first released in 1957, was screened on September 11 and 12 in Sala Volpi auditorium at the Venice Film Festival. “It took us four months to restore the film. The final outcome of the restored version can be seen in its original form. Out of the many classics that we restored, Pyaasa has a special place in our hearts,” Sushil Kumar Agrawal, CEO, Ultra Media & Entertainment said.
“We are planning a theatrical release of Pyaasa post its screening at the Festival,” he added. He said the most challenging part was to source the authentic materials to complete the preservation. “Thousands of instances of dirt, lines, scratches, splices, warps, jitters and green patches were manually removed, frame by frame under the supervision of experienced artistes,” he said.