Digitally restored version of Satyajit Ray’s ‘Aranyer Din Ratri’ to be screened in Kolkata on Nov 7

The restoration also involved creating new, accurate English subtitles with the help of Indrani Mazumdar, who previously worked with Ray on subtitles.

Satyajit Ray’s classic film ’Aranyer Din Ratri’ (Days and Nights in the Forest), digitally restored in 4K and screened at the Cannes Film Festival in May, will be showcased at Priya Cinema here on November 7, theatre owner and member of the film’s producers’ family Arijit Dutta said on Tuesday.

The restoration was a collaboration between the Film Heritage Foundation and The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project, with work done at L’Immagine Ritrovata in Bologna, Italy, and both Ray’s director son Sandip and the Dutta family approved the restoration work.

The restoration process addressed issues like dust, scratches and digital flickering in the original film while a magnetic track preserved by the BFI National Archive was used to improve the sound quality in some sections.The restored version will be shown in Kolkata for the first time at the special screening on November 7 at Priya Cinema.

This will be followed by a screening on November 8 at state-run single screen complex Nandan as part of the Kolkata International Film Festival tribute to the maestro, a Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) official said. Dutta told PTI the new digitally restored version will also be screened in some other theatres. "We are yet to chalk out the details about screening in other theatres,” he said to a question.

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Dutta’s wife and son attended the Cannes screening of the restored version in May, along with actors Sharmila Tagore and Simi Garewal. "They still recall the ecstatic response of the audience and the standing ovation at Cannes,” Dutta said. The restoration also involved creating new, accurate English subtitles with the help of Indrani Mazumdar, who previously worked with Ray on subtitles.