Restoration of Feature Film 'Naya Daur'

The 180 minute Indian classic B&W film “Naya Daur” (1957) starring Dilip Kumar, Vyjayanthimala, Ajit, Chand Usmani, Jeevan and Nasir Hussein, directed by B.R.Chopra was restored using a host of processes and skilled technicians.

Restoration of this film was completed in four months with technicians working 24 hours a day/ 7days a week. The only surviving composite dupe negative had to be physically restored from mis-handling, dirt, dust particles and repaired of frame perforation tears and more.

Around 259,000 frames of the film were scanned at 3k Resolution using pin registered high-speed film scanners. The Scanned Digital Images were then imported into the Digital restoration system and worked at film resolution for restoring the artifacts. Numerous portions of the film were intricately worked upon to fix artifacts such as oil / water marks, large black / white patches, missing frames and splice marks.

Over 5,000,000 pieces of dirt and dust particles were removed and numerous frames containing heavy flicker, jumps between shots were rectified to provide the pristine original look of the film.

In one of the scenes, several frames of the heroine Vyjayanthimala walking through an arch were severely damaged (The frames were torn into two). The torn frames had to be restored meticulously to bring about the original look. The technicians also restored several vertical line scratches in large portions of the feature film. These were digitally fixed on a frame by frame basis through a host of processes.

The restored film is being colourized by our strategic business associate for a theatrical release. Please watch this space for further updates.