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Number 4 2017/08/19

One Man Archive Army

So, three Censor Boards were set up in Bombay, Calcutta and Madras soon after 1918 and another one in Lahore in 1927. Our Knight on a quest was in Bombay, so he approached the Central Board of Censors there. They said, we were established in 1951 and we can help you with films censored after that. What do I do for films before that, he asked. Somebody mentioned  the Govt Dept of Archives. Off he went to the Archives and he found bonanza!

In collaboartion with the National Film Archives of India, Poona, he was able to examine the old gazettes on microfilm containing info about 1000 silents and talkies. This was about 80% of the films What about tthe remaining? The next important center was in Calcultta, so he went there.

The Calcutta Censor Board told him that they did not have anything, of course. He asked, Where do you keep all your junk? They pointed to a dirty and dilapidated room. Holding his nose, he ransacked it and found nearly disintegrated forty year old gazettes. He took them all to NFAI, where they are now. I presume they have been microfilmed. Prakash Magdum ji would know.

That one man archive army was a double graduate, Mechanical Engg and Electrical Engg. He was an Assistant Sound Recordist and Editor for "Vish Vaman (1936)"  a talkie made in Jabalpur. The film was financed by a beeDee maker.

His name is (Late) Bhaskarrao Vishnu Dharap, owner of Alka Talkies, Poona, who was commonly known as B V Dharap. Har Mandir Singh declared him to be his Godfather in his "Saga of the Compiler's Odyssey".

Thanks again to the magic of modern science and internet, I am able to show you a page from a gazette of 1922. You can see one silent Indian film and many foreign ones, because these foreign films had to be  re-censored in India before they could be shown here.

[As usual, right click, view image and magnify or just download.]

Now you know!

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Nutan offers personal advice about love life etc.

Nutan

Now you know!

Rafi 36

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Archiving Indian film music

Chetan Vinchhi

On the challenges faced by any serious archival efforts and possible ways of mitigating these

Introduction

The history of a music reflects the history of its people. The evolution of a genre of music narrates vivid stories that often go above and beyond the written word. We can identify with and relive these sagas through the music. And all this happens organically. It is not a history lesson. It is woven into the social fabric over the years, even generations.

Read more: Archiving Film Music

  1. Musing 301: I Love You, Rafi 39
  2. Msuing 296: Jhande Khan, Rafi 34
  3. Musing 80: Woh Ham Se Chup Hain, Narsingh 683
  4. Musing 524: Rafi 228. Shakila Bano Bhopali
  5. Musing 484: Rafi 189. Seth Dharmdas
  6. Musing 82: Movie Goofs, Narsingh 685 Tunes
  7. Musing 508: Rafi 212. Madhu in Shama
  8. Musing 27: Breathing, Pyar Ka Bandhan (1963)
  9. Musing 394: Durrani at AIR, Rafi 99
  10. Musing 22: Sargam in song, Bhootnath (1963)
  11. Musing 13: Film Tricks and Narsingh songs
  12. Musing 12: Jay's recent songs
  13. Musing 44: Tollywood in 1932, Shankar Sita Anusuya (1965)
  14. Musing 51, Long intro, Kunwari (1966)
  15. Musings 501-600

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