Major boost for Kannada films: Over 1500 classic films to be restored, digitized

KCA has urged the government to impose an additional fee of Rs 5 on tickets for other language films released in Karnataka, to fund the restoration project.
Major boost for Kannada films: Over 1500 classic films to be restored, digitized
Major boost for Kannada films: Over 1500 classic films to be restored, digitized
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The 1934 Kannada film Sati Sulochana is the first talkie film in the regional language, directed by YV Rao. 

More than 80 years since the film was released, Sati Sulochana, and hundreds of other classic Kannada films, are set to get a new lease of life, with the Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy (KCA) deciding to restore and digitize them.

Muralidhara Khajane reports for The Hindu that the Academy's large-scale restoration will see over 1500 old Kannada films being digitized. While the copies of many films with the KCA has been damaged, the academy does not have copies of many old Kannada language films.

“KCA has decided to form a four-member committee to pick Kannada classics and locate their negatives, besides identifying persons who owns them. KCA is also planning to hold a seminar on the preservation and restoration of films. We will invite Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, founder of Film Heritage Foundation, which is dedicated to supporting conservation, preservation and restoration of movie images,” SV Rajendra Singh Babu, film director and Chairman of KCA told The Hindu. 

Rs 6 crore is the estimated cost of the project, and the BDA has already released Rs 1 crore, besides the Rs 2 crore earmarked by the Karnataka government in the budget.

BV Shivashankar reports for The Times of India, that for the purpose of mobilizing fund for the project, the KCA has urged the government to impose additional fee of Rs 5 on tickets for other language films released in Karnataka.

The KCA Chairman told TOI that  a provision in the Goods and Services Tax regime allows local urban bodies to impose additional entertainment tax on films, that can in fact be used for the purpose of restoring old Kannada films.

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