Despite fire, all the films of RK Studios are in safe custody
Filmmaker Jabbar Patel met Randhir Kapoor after the RK Studio fire and asked him about the condition of all the films, says Prakash Magdum
Though the costumes of RK Films could not be saved in the blaze that occurred on September 2017, all their films are now in safe custody with National Film Archives of India (NFAI). Speaking about the same, NFAI chief Prakash Magdum said, “Filmmaker Jabbar Patel met Randhir Kapoor after the RK Studio fire and asked him about the condition of all the films. Randhir told him that the films were safe, but the property and clothes of RK films were destroyed in the fire.’’
Negatives of 21 films from RK Studio have been given to NFAI. They include Aag, Barsaat, Awara, Boot Polish Shree 420, Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai, Sangam, Mera Naam Joker, Kal Aaj Aur Kal, Bobby, Dharam Karam, Satyam Shivam Sundaram. Prem Rog, Biwi O Biwi, Prem Rog, Ram Teri Ganga Maili and Aa Ab Laut Chale.’’
Magdum said, “Randhir Kapoor had come recently to NFAI, when we were having an exhibition of Raj Kapoor films. He told me that he would need copies of all the posters as the ones at RK Studios were destroyed in the fire.’’
Magdum is trying to reach out to almost all film production house with an appeal to handover the negatives of their films, so that NFAI can preserve it for the future generations. He said, “Negatives need to be in a cool and dry place and Pune’s climate is just right for it. We at NFAI have 27 storage vaults as per international standards.’’
The archives have acquired about 900 films on celluloid in the last two years. Magdum informs, “We have films by V Shantaram, Subhash Ghai, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Basu Bhattacharya. We also have 90 films posters of Amitabh Bachchan and Mughal-E-Azam’s six sheeter.’’
NFAI is in the process of restoring the Jaykar bungalow, which used to be the FTII principal’s office and girls’ hostel that once housed senior actresses like Rehana Sultan, Jaya Bachchan and Shabana Azmi. Magdum said, “We want to turn Jaykar bungalow into a digital centre for research for film students, so we are planning to invite ex-students to share their memories of their days. We already have Parvati Menon, who was the first girl student of FTII and are looking forward to Jaya Bachchan and Shabana Azmi sharing their memories.’’