kstuart wrote:
I'm also currently watching this film (about 2/3 through) on the Shemaroo DVD.
I would say that for somthing like (guess) +/- US$20,000, the dirt and white flecks could be removed digitally, since the frames before and after don't have them and the software can thus tell what is the dirt. The software could also do a little tweaking of contrast and sharpness perhaps.
Beyond that would require original elements, which are undoubtedly lost for a non-Hollywood of over 40 years in age.
By the way, does anyone know where I can find English lyrics for the songs of Mughal-E-Azam? In most films, you can tell pretty much what the songs are about even when there is no song subtitles, but in the case of the (color) song "Pyaar kiya to Darnaa kyaa", I can surmise what she is saying in the song, but it would be a lot better to know the actual lyrics...
Shemaroo does not have the sophisticated equipment to create a transfer similar to R1 "Citizen Kane" or "Singin' In the Rain." What all the Indian DVD producers do is to excessively turn up the digital video noise reduction. This isn't manually going frame by frame and cleaning up the specks.
Can you post some screenshots from M-E-A?