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This twelvemonth marks the 50th twelvemonth of 27 Down arsenic good arsenic the demise of Awtar Krishna Kaul, its manager and screenplay writer. To people the film’s aureate jubilee year, a restored mentation of 27 Down–considered to beryllium 1 of the salient movies of the Seventies’ New Wave Cinema successful India–was screened contiguous during the ongoing 55th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Goa.
While the screening was an affectional infinitesimal for Vinod Kaul, nephew of the director, its cinematographer Apurba Kishore Bir was disappointed with the restored version. Bir, who is portion of IFFI’s method committee, was not blessed with “the tonal scope and gradation” of the restored print. “The DVD I person got of 27 Down has a overmuch amended pictorial content than the restored one. For the restoration, the root of the enactment has to beryllium understood by the idiosyncratic who is correcting it. There should beryllium enactment betwixt the grader and creators. Had I known, I could person offered my guidance connected that,” says Bir, who has changeable landmark movies specified arsenic Gharonda (1977), Dooriyaan (1979) and Pestonjee (1988).
Raakhee and MK Raina successful 27 Down.
27 Down remains Awtar’s directorial debut and his lone film. The time it was announced that the movie had won 2 National Film Awards successful 1974 — for Best Feature Film successful Hindi and Best Cinematography — Kaul drowned successful the oversea adjacent Mumbai successful an accident. Though helium was rescued, helium couldn’t beryllium saved. He was 35 astatine that time. This, recalls Vinod, was a large stroke to the family. “My uncle ne'er got to witnesser the accolades his directorial debut received. He was 1 of the six siblings. In spite of the family’s humble background, helium was ambitious and focused. He studied filmmaking astatine the City University of New York,” shared Vinod.
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Awatar was calved connected September 27, 1939 successful Srinagar. He studied successful Kashmir and Delhi earlier moving to the United States successful 1960. After Awtar returned to India successful 1970, helium joined the Merchant Ivory Productions arsenic an adjunct manager for their movie Bombay Talkie (1970). Later, helium approached the Film Finance Corporation (now known arsenic National Film Development Corporation) and encouraged by its president BK Karanjia, helium acceptable retired to marque his archetypal movie successful 1972.
27 Down, which is based connected Ramesh Bakshi’s Hindi caller Athara Sooraj Ke Paudhe, had a budget of Rs 8 lakh. Out of that, Kaul contributed Rs 3 lakh and Rs 5 lakh were funded by the FFC. Production of the film, which had Hariprasad Chaurasia and Bhubaneshwar Mishra composing its music, took astir 2 years. The accumulation plan was handled by Bansi Chandragupta, known for designing astir of Satyajit Ray’s films including Pather Panchali. The pb actors are MK Raina and Raakhee.
New Wave classical 27 Down was screened astatine IFFI 2024.
The movie — which went to go a classical arsenic good arsenic person nationalist and planetary acclaim — follows the beingness and tribulations of Sanjay (M K Raina), who wanted to survey creation but had to instrumentality up a occupation with the railways arsenic per his father’s wish. It is during 1 of his journeys connected the Bombay suburban enactment that helium meets LIC cause Shalini (Raakhee). They make a fondness for each other, but Sanjay’s feelings are not reciprocated. Some years later, helium runs into Shalini connected different bid travel and realises that they are precise antithetic radical now. The movie uses the metaphor of the travel of beingness to seizure the stops and connections a idiosyncratic makes successful it. To springiness the movie a documentary-like authenticity, the movie was changeable successful black-and-white. Bir recalls shooting the movie successful existent locations and crowded places of Mumbai.
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Describing the passing distant of Awtar arsenic a “great loss” to Indian cinema, Bir says: “He was hugely talented and had large passionateness for cinema.” Incidentally, Awtar near down a finished screenplay called ‘Chandu’. This publication besides centres astir quality relationships shadowed by the anticipation of nine and family.
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