Dev Benegal’s 1994 film “English, August” is being restored after its original camera negative melted. The Film Heritage Foundation rebuilt the film using two 35mm prints and unexpectedly, 30-year-old DAT tapes. The restoration will premiere at the Venice Film Festival, highlighting the film’s continued relevance as a portrait of post-colonial India.
The restoration effort faced significant challenges. According to Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, founder of the Film Heritage Foundation (FHF), the original camera negative was in “terrible condition,” having melted. A dupe negative was also lost, leaving only two 35mm release prints for the restoration. One print was donated by Dev Benegal, and the other was preserved by the NFDC-National Film Archive of India.
Released in 1994, “English, August” follows Agastya Sen, a young, Westernized trainee nicknamed “August,” during his year of civil-service training in India. The film, adapted from Upamanyu Chatterjee’s 1988 novel, explores the experiences of a man adrift in his own country, grappling with bureaucracy and a sense of alienation.
Benegal described the film’s editing process as crucial to its final form, stating, “This is a film which was truly written on the editing table…While we were editing, Upamanyu asked me, ‘Why did we even write a screenplay? We are writing the film right here.’”
The soundtrack restoration proved to be a surprising success. Vikram Joglekar originally recorded the sound digitally in 1994, defying industry advice. Benegal had kept DAT tapes of the original recording, anticipating their potential value. “Back in 1994, DATs were the cutting-edge digital recording medium…never imagining they would save the film three decades later when the original 35mm sound negatives vanished,” Benegal said. Dungarpur confirmed the tapes provided restorers with a rare asset, allowing them to return to the original studio with Joglekar.
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