Discussion Tamil Movies of 80s, 90s, 2000s restoration into True 1080p HD

[Vallavan]

Hello Everyone,

This is about discussion related to the movie restoration to be released in 1080P

The first restoration of an old movie I saw was of Muthu from a Japan only released Blu ray disk and was greatly impressed by the visual and audio quality of that release. I never thought the Cinema cameras of those time can capture so much as we were mostly exposed to the dummy VCD clarity, 480p clarity of DVDs and SUN Network upscaled clarity. It is indeed a treat to the eyes watching them in a Full HD 40" TV.

Next Baasha was also restored and the clarity was good but not close to Muthu (Japan made, so I can understand) but after that hardly much movies are restored.

Recently I saw Sathya Movies restoring Thangamagan and Moondru Mugam and the picture quality just gives a different dimension to those movies. Why are most producers who are not void still not ready to restore those old classics and re-release it.

In Telugu, Suresh Productions are the only ones who are restoring their old movies to Full HD and just giving it out for free in YT.

Why are we not getting more restored movies like Bollywood where even the Home video distributors like Ultra, Shemaroo etc give fantastic video quality of movies where in Ap International or Pyramid Movies YT channels has sub par quality of their movies. Can someone explain this logic.

 

[Bulgari]

Why are we not getting more restored movies like Bollywood where even the Home video distributors like Ultra, Shemaroo etc give fantastic video quality of movies where in Ap International or Pyramid Movies YT channels has sub par quality of their movies. Can someone explain this logic.

To restore movies, we need a good source. The best source is the negative of the film (the original one in the camera which shot the movie). Negatives are kept in labs. In Chennai, there is Vijaya Lab, Gemini Lab etc. Even telugu, malayalam negatives are kept in these labs. Now one of these labs lost many negatives due to a fire or flood or something. Many negatives were lost.

Only producer has the right to the negatives. To restore a movie, we first need to get permission from producer to get the negatives from the lab.

If negatives are not available, the second best option is to find a theatrical release print. This is the print that is put in the projector in theatres. Obtaining prints can be difficult because many prints are destroyed after the run of the movie.

Our film industry is bad in preserving negatives and prints. Once run of the movie is over, producers don't care about them. They are not maintained well. That's why we are not getting a lot of movies restored.

In Hollywood, almost every movie is well preserved. Even flop movies.

 

[Bulgari]

Kadhalan negatives are lost. AP International found a theatrical print and has done 4K restoration from the print.

 

[Vallavan]

Kadhalan negatives are lost. AP International found a theatrical print and has done 4K restoration from the print.

Wow. Kadhalan was a super hit movie and the negatives are lost. I am not sure what is the fate of the other movies.

I was glad to find that AP international were restoring the old movies but they stopped now over a year. The released few titles in Amazon prime in HD and the quality was good enough for a HDTV. Hopefully they start again.
They are the only ones who have a great collection of movies.

 

[Bulgari]

Last surviving Gemini Color Lab shuts down, marks the end of analog film processing

However, with the shutting down of the analog lab, a concern still looms over – Who will preserve the 6000 master negatives of the films processed at the lab and stored here for years?

The repository includes films in Telugu, Malyalam and Tamil stored at a particular temperature. They had never been taken out expect once or twice when the producer wanted a new print to be made.

Last surviving Gemini Color Lab shuts down, marks the end of analog film processing

 

[Bulgari]

Wow. Kadhalan was a super hit movie and the negatives are lost. I am not sure what is the fate of the other movies.

I was glad to find that AP international were restoring the old movies but they stopped now over a year. The released few titles in Amazon prime in HD and the quality was good enough for a HDTV. Hopefully they start again.
They are the only ones who have a great collection of movies.

It's hard to find well-preserved negatives or prints. These companies like AP international are always looking for them. Once they find them, they will ask the producer for the rights. If he gives them rights, they will start restoring.

So it all depends on finding these negatives/prints. They are searching overseas also since many Indian movies were shown in overseas.

 

[Vallavan]

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It's hard to find well-preserved negatives or prints. These companies like AP international are always looking for them. Once they find them, they will ask the producer for the rights. If he gives them rights, they will start restoring.

So it all depends on finding these negatives/prints. They are searching overseas also since many Indian movies were shown in overseas.

Thanks for the info.

Lot of Tamil production companies are still existing like Sathya Jyoti films, AVM, V creations.
I don't know why they are not taking initiatives in restoring the movies to Today's standards.

These movies can still yield money for them thru OTTs.

 

[Vallavan]

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Thanks for the info.

Lot of Tamil production companies are still existing like Sathya Jyoti films, AVM, V creations.
I don't know why they are not taking initiatives in restoring the movies to Today's standards.

These movies can still yield money for them thru OTTs.

Probably they have the prints of the movies.

 

[Bulgari]

Probably they have the prints of the movies.

Are Tamil HD channels showing any restored movies?

I am from Kerala. We have 4 HD channels. Only one is showing restored movies. But most are from 2000-2010 period. Only few before 2000.

I don't expect restored movies from Sun Network. Their Malayalam channel Surya HD has till now never shown a restored movie.

Star Network channels are the only hope. Asianet HD is showing many restored movies. One regret is that they are not putting those restored movies on Hotstar. Only on TV channel.

 

[Vallavan]

Are Tamil HD channels showing any restored movies?

I am from Kerala. We have 4 HD channels. Only one is showing restored movies. But most are from 2000-2010 period. Only few before 2000.

I don't expect restored movies from Sun Network. Their Malayalam channel Surya HD has till now never shown a restored movie.

Star Network channels are the only hope. Asianet HD is showing many restored movies. One regret is that they are not putting those restored movies on Hotstar. Only on TV channel.

Thanks for replying bro

In Tamil channels, what I have noticed is that some of the movies released after 2000 and all the movies released after 2011 are in HD in both Sun and Vijay TV. I never had Zee Tamil HD only SD in D2H so cannot comment on them.

Sun Tv was ruling the roost among Tamil Channels and most of the Hit movies are with them Vijay TV had started garnering more TV rights after 2010s if I am not wrong and most of their movies procured during that time has HD.

Mostly the hit movies of 2000s are restored in HD in Sunnetwork like Ezhumalai, Kadhal Kondein, 7G rainbow colony, Winner, Vallavan, Mandhan and many more. They are not completely restored to True HD but better than their upscaled ones and have that orange tint like every movie in SunTv.

The restored movies of Suntv are available in OTTs as well. Check the quality below