The only surviving original print of the acclaimed 1948 Hindi classic Kalpana, a masterpiece by the director Uday Shankar, would not have existed if not for the relentless efforts and patience of Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, an advertising director with an uncommon penchant for preserving films for posterity.
Dungarpur, along with Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Foundation, helped restore the old film for more than six months at the Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in Bologna. The restored work was screened at this year's Cannes Film Festival, in its Classic section. The film, which critics and historians consider to be an ode to experimental cinema and dance choreography, is now back in India, stored at the National Film Archives of India (NFAI).
"I had seen Kalpana some time ago and it was a great film. When I met Scorsese's people, they said they wanted to do it but because of bureaucracy, they gave up," says the 43-year-old. Dungarpur says it took him three months just to have the project approved in India and acquire the film's release so he could send the copy to the Foundation.
The other film that Dungarpur partly sponsored to restore is Alfred Hitchcock's first film, the 1927 silent cinema classic The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog. The movie recently screened at the Barbican Centre in London as a prelude to this year's Olympics and was telecast on UK television and the web.
Dungarpur, who hails from a royal family and originally set out to make feature films in Bollywood, says restoring the Kalpana print was all thanks to PK Nair, the founding director of the NFAI and the one who had the foresight to make a backup print of Kalpana.
"All the filmmakers believe we learnt everything from Nair, who preserved every bit of cinema left in India," he says. "He showed us everything, gave us our identity. In 1964, he started the NFAI, and whatever is there, it is because of him. He is the gatekeeper of Indian film heritage."
Out of 1,700 Indian silent films, only nine have survived and all through Nair's efforts.
This year, Dungarpur released his documentary on Nair and the man's work and restoration legacy. The film, Celluloid Man, premiered at the Cinema Ritrovato Festival in Bologna in June.
"It took 11 trips to the National Film Archive's headquarters in Pune to convince the authorities to let me film with Nair," recalls Dungarpur.
"I started the film two years ago and what a journey of discovery it has been. I learnt about the lost heritage of Indian cinema and how important it is to preserve and restore our films before it is too late."
Dungarpur says that when he was a student at the Film and Television Institute of India, a school that works closely with the National Film Archive, he would see Nair in the institute's cinema: "A shadowy figure in the darkened theatre, scribbling industriously in a notebook by the light of a tiny torch - winding and unwinding reels of film, shouting instructions to the projectionist and always, always watching the films."
In a country where historical monuments are being razed to make way for infrastructure projects, where ancient manuscripts are withering away in neglected corners and languages are fading, picking up the gauntlet as a saviour of old film prints is a brave act. The sheer trouble and time it takes to even secure access to archival material is enough to turn anyone off.
Dungarpur recognises these challenges, but remains focused on his plans to formally set up a foundation, by the end of the year, that will focus on restoring and preserving films in India.
"We make films, exploit them commercially and throw them out. We don't have training or schools focused on restoration," he says. "Look at Chaplin films and how well preserved they are. Can you say that for India?"
The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
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Ain Issa camp:
- Established in 2016
- Houses 13,309 people, 2,092 families, 62 per cent children
- Of the adult population, 49 per cent men, 51 per cent women (not including foreigners annexe)
- Most from Deir Ezzor and Raqqa
- 950 foreigners linked to ISIS and their families
- NGO Blumont runs camp management for the UN
- One of the nine official (UN recognised) camps in the region
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BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE
Starring: Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, Jenny Ortega
Director: Tim Burton
Rating: 3/5
Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl
Power: 153hp at 6,000rpm
Torque: 200Nm at 4,000rpm
Transmission: 6-speed auto
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The specs
Engine: 2.3-litre, turbo four-cylinder
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Power: 300hp
Torque: 420Nm
Price: Dh189,900
On sale: now
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BORDERLANDS
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis
Director: Eli Roth
Rating: 0/5
Film: In Syria
Dir: Philippe Van Leeuw
Starring: Hiam Abbass, Diamand Bo Abboud, Mohsen Abbas and Juliette Navis
Verdict: Four stars
UAE finals day
Friday, April 13
Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City
3pm, UAE Conference: Dubai Tigers v Sharjah Wanderers
6.30pm, UAE Premiership: Dubai Exiles v Abu Dhabi Harlequins
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AVOID SCAMMERS: TIPS FROM EMIRATES NBD
1. Never respond to e-mails, calls or messages asking for account, card or internet banking details
2. Never store a card PIN (personal identification number) in your mobile or in your wallet
3. Ensure online shopping websites are secure and verified before providing card details
4. Change passwords periodically as a precautionary measure
5. Never share authentication data such as passwords, card PINs and OTPs (one-time passwords) with third parties
6. Track bank notifications regarding transaction discrepancies
7. Report lost or stolen debit and credit cards immediately
From Europe to the Middle East, economic success brings wealth - and lifestyle diseases
A rise in obesity figures and the need for more public spending is a familiar trend in the developing world as western lifestyles are adopted.
One in five deaths around the world is now caused by bad diet, with obesity the fastest growing global risk. A high body mass index is also the top cause of metabolic diseases relating to death and disability in Kuwait, Qatar and Oman – and second on the list in Bahrain.
In Britain, heart disease, lung cancer and Alzheimer’s remain among the leading causes of death, and people there are spending more time suffering from health problems.
The UK is expected to spend $421.4 billion on healthcare by 2040, up from $239.3 billion in 2014.
And development assistance for health is talking about the financial aid given to governments to support social, environmental development of developing countries.
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About Seez
Company name/date started: Seez, set up in September 2015 and the app was released in August 2017
Founder/CEO name(s): Tarek Kabrit, co-founder and chief executive, and Andrew Kabrit, co-founder and chief operating officer
Based in: Dubai, with operations also in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon
Sector: Search engine for car buying, selling and leasing
Size: (employees/revenue): 11; undisclosed
Stage of funding: $1.8 million in seed funding; followed by another $1.5m bridge round - in the process of closing Series A
Investors: Wamda Capital, B&Y and Phoenician Funds
Sinopharm vaccine explained
The Sinopharm vaccine was created using techniques that have been around for decades.
“This is an inactivated vaccine. Simply what it means is that the virus is taken, cultured and inactivated," said Dr Nawal Al Kaabi, chair of the UAE's National Covid-19 Clinical Management Committee.
"What is left is a skeleton of the virus so it looks like a virus, but it is not live."
This is then injected into the body.
"The body will recognise it and form antibodies but because it is inactive, we will need more than one dose. The body will not develop immunity with one dose," she said.
"You have to be exposed more than one time to what we call the antigen."
The vaccine should offer protection for at least months, but no one knows how long beyond that.
Dr Al Kaabi said early vaccine volunteers in China were given shots last spring and still have antibodies today.
“Since it is inactivated, it will not last forever," she said.