While writing the last post on my diploma film GHERAO, I remembered a time when the sole film print of GHERAO was lost. FTII wouldn't make a new print unless I was prepared to buy it, which at that point was too much money for a struggling filmmaker like me. Technically, FTII 'lent' the filmmaker a print of his diploma against a deposit, which was returned when you returned the diploma film. So you borrowed your film whenever you needed to screen it. But now, with print 'lost' you couldn't borrow it anymore, couldn't show it to prospective clients/producers.
All that got sorted when the print was found at the NFDC later, and matters went back to normal.
All those memories led to my 'lost documentary'.
It was 1991 when a friend asked if I wanted to do any documentaries with a background of the Jain religion and culture, as he was part of a group starting a new TV Channel on that segment. As it happened, the next day the newspapers (still a source of 'news' in those days) had a small item about a Jain gentleman who was going into the state called 'Santhara'. Legally in India 'Santhara' means a person depriving himself of food (fasting) until death. Socially its a very different thing as you can only go for ' Santhara' if your family and your religious guru approves. Which means you can't compare 'Santhara' with suicide, they are very different things.
I asked my friend if I could do a documentary on this, and got a go-ahead. I found the family and the person, met them and go their approval too. The gentleman was over eighty years old, had had his third heart attack and was expected to survive perhaps a day or two. I interviewed the family, their doctor, the gentleman himself and their religious guru (a young Jain nun).
My old friend Ashwini Kaul did the camerawork, my wife edited the film, my old friend Chand did the voice-over. The completion of the documentary kept getting delayed for odd technical reasons. It was completed the day the gentleman passed away, almost like he didn't want the documentary to turn him into a hero.
The documentary was seen by a the family, the producers and a few other people. My friend and the financiers had some kind of a fall out, down to video-tapes exchanging hands. In the process, both assumed the other had a tape of the documentary. I had no copy as a VHS had been promised but never given to me.
I moved on to other jobs, where I did get a few queries from people about the documentary, which I passed on to my friend.
Years later I was head hunted by a company for a TV Channel job, went for the interview and it was with the people who had produced this documentary. In the interview we ended up only trying to figure out where the documentary could be and unfortunately came to no conclusions.
I went overseas shortly afterwards, concluding clearly that this was a 'lost' documentary.
I do talk about it to friends, but it remains one of those niggling lossses that irritates me no end.
Again one of those 'ifs' and 'buts' of life.
All that got sorted when the print was found at the NFDC later, and matters went back to normal.
All those memories led to my 'lost documentary'.
It was 1991 when a friend asked if I wanted to do any documentaries with a background of the Jain religion and culture, as he was part of a group starting a new TV Channel on that segment. As it happened, the next day the newspapers (still a source of 'news' in those days) had a small item about a Jain gentleman who was going into the state called 'Santhara'. Legally in India 'Santhara' means a person depriving himself of food (fasting) until death. Socially its a very different thing as you can only go for ' Santhara' if your family and your religious guru approves. Which means you can't compare 'Santhara' with suicide, they are very different things.
I asked my friend if I could do a documentary on this, and got a go-ahead. I found the family and the person, met them and go their approval too. The gentleman was over eighty years old, had had his third heart attack and was expected to survive perhaps a day or two. I interviewed the family, their doctor, the gentleman himself and their religious guru (a young Jain nun).
My old friend Ashwini Kaul did the camerawork, my wife edited the film, my old friend Chand did the voice-over. The completion of the documentary kept getting delayed for odd technical reasons. It was completed the day the gentleman passed away, almost like he didn't want the documentary to turn him into a hero.
The documentary was seen by a the family, the producers and a few other people. My friend and the financiers had some kind of a fall out, down to video-tapes exchanging hands. In the process, both assumed the other had a tape of the documentary. I had no copy as a VHS had been promised but never given to me.
I moved on to other jobs, where I did get a few queries from people about the documentary, which I passed on to my friend.
Years later I was head hunted by a company for a TV Channel job, went for the interview and it was with the people who had produced this documentary. In the interview we ended up only trying to figure out where the documentary could be and unfortunately came to no conclusions.
I went overseas shortly afterwards, concluding clearly that this was a 'lost' documentary.
I do talk about it to friends, but it remains one of those niggling lossses that irritates me no end.
Again one of those 'ifs' and 'buts' of life.
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