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Naya Daur gets a coat of colour
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2003 03:12:08 PM ]
The year: 1957. The film:Naya Daur. The song: Ude jab jab zulfein teri, kuwario ka dil machle... Dilip Kumar is dressed in a blue scarf and yellow kurta, while Vyjayantimala dances in a pink and magenta lehenga choli.
Wait a minute. Isn’t this a black and white film? So where did all the colour come into the quaint pastoral setting? Well, B R Chopra’s classic from the 50s is all set to be seeped in colour, making it the first of its kind in Bollywood. An effort on the part of Ravi Chopra, son of the legendary B R Chopra, the coloured version will hit movie theatres by the end of the year.
“Today’s audience don’t prefer watching black and white stuff,†says Ravi. “So, by breathing colour into these Hindi classics, it will be possible to reach out to a larger audience.â€
The project is in collaboration with US-based West Wing Studio Inc, run by Vivek Rao, which provides the software.
“A year ago Vivek approached me with the concept,†recalls Vivek, who went ahead immediately after he saw a certain coloured segment of the movie. “The impact was great.†With West Wing setting up operations in Goa, where around a hundred strong crew will be working on Bollywood flicks and another hundred on those from Hollywood, work on Naya Daur is likely to commence on the first week of July.
However, breathing colour into these black and white era films is no mean task. Not only is it a costly affair, with each make-over costing over Rs 1 crore for television and around Rs 2 crore for the theatres, it’s also extremely time consuming. It takes eight hours to complete colouring four seconds of a film.
“It requires a great deal of skill to do the work and West Wing has already trained people in Goa -- a place which I feel could well be the film festival destination of India.†Apart from the colouring, the music as well as the sound will also be cleaned.
Though the endeavour required large investments, Chopra is not too bothered. For he says,“I will be happy if I can break even for it is not so much of a money making venture.â€
As for colouring other movies, he says, he plans to approach other producers depending on the success of Naya Daur. “Currently we have Gumraah and Dal ka Phool.†Whatever be the fate of the revised Naya Daur, Ravi looks upon the entire effort as an attempt “to reach these classics to today’s generation who are starved of good cinema.â€
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