| Sikkim : Lost and Found |
| Pix: Sandip Ray , Text: Arup K. De |
|
| |
|
This is the story of a transatlantic search, spanning three continents, for a missing film. It's a film by Satyajit Ray --- one that has never shown in India, courtesy the ban imposed on it by the Union Government. The world lost track of Sikkim , the Ray documentary made at the request of the Chogyal, when the king's American wife Hope Cook left the Himalayan kingdom to go back to New York, never to return.
Cook took home with her a print of Sikkim . The world at large had no idea at the time what she exactly did with the print, though there was talk that she had deposited it in an American university. The search that continued for nearly |
|
|
a decade has ultimately yielded three prints of the film in the last few years in countries as far apart as India, Britain and the US. Two of the prints have turned out to be damaged beyond repair, while the remaining one is awaiting an uncertain prospect of restoration. |
|
Sandip Ray, eminent filmmaker and son of the legendary director, accompanied his father to Sikkim as a production photographer in 1970. “ Baba (Father) told the producers that he would shoot the film not at a time but at certain seasons to catch the seasonal moods of the hills. So he went there more than once with his unit. Maa (Bijoya Ray) accompanied him on one of his trips, while I on another,” Sandip reminisced. He called it “a great adventure”, because the Ray unit travelled to remote parts, some of which were nearly inaccessible and without electricity at the time.
“The film was shot almost all over Sikkim,” said Sandip. “We went to Nathu La border, to Lachung, Lachen, Pemiyantse, Singhik and many other areas. The climbs, even by jeep, were risky. I still remember the beautiful monastery at Pemiyantse, which was the old capital of Sikkim, and the royal throne lying in the open, exposed to the vagaries of weather. A good deal of shooting was done in Gangtok and Rumtek as well.” The film, in Sandip's opinion, is about the natural beauty of Sikkim and the innocence and simplicity of its people. The commentary, which is in the rich Ray baritone, dwells briefly on Sikkim's history as well. |
|
|
The search for Sikkim began in the 1990's by the Kolkata-based Society for the Preservation of Satyajit Ray Films (popularly known as the Satyajit Ray Society) and the Satyajit Ray Film and Study Collection (Satyajit Ray FASC) located at the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC). |
|
“Ray told me in 1990 that he had handed the original negative of Sikkim to the Chogyal and his wife,” said Dilip Basu, director of the Satyajit Ray FASC. “In 1994, we made extensive inquiries to locate the original without luck. I contacted Hope Cook, a Sarah Lawrence College graduate and a New York socialite. She refused to communicate or cooperate. Then I learnt from my friend and colleague Prof. Akos Oster, an anthropologist who had actually seen Sikkim at Harvard where he taught in the late 70's and 80's, that Hope Cook had deposited a print in the Heffenreffer Museum of Anthropology in Providence, Rhode Island. I contacted the Museum curator, who refused to confirm she had the print.” Basu then passed on the information to Michael Friend, then the AMPASA director, who used his connections to get the print to Los Angeles. “But unfortunately it was not of much use, as the colours from the film had completely or nearly completely faded,” said Basu. |
 |
| Trainee monks who are still mere children : SIKKIM |
|
|
 |
| A boy plays on the dusty road : SIKKIM |
|
It was Sandip Ray, member-secretary of the Satyajit Ray Society, who spotted the second Sikkim print in Gangtok in 2003. “All the belongings of the Chogyal passed into the hands of an organization called The Art & Cultural Trust of Sikkim,” said Sandip. “Ugyen Chopel, managing trustee of the Trust, contacted us when they found a print of Sikkim among other things in their possession during stock taking. I went to Gangtok to fetch the print, which was so damaged that it could not be run on a projector. It had most of the colours faded from it. However, I sent it to the Academy Archives.”
|
|
The third print was found in the possession of the Contemporary Films in London. It was shown at the complete Ray Retrospective that the British Film Institute (BFI) organized in 2002. “I was at the BFI the next year,” said Dilip Basu. “It was shown to me at an exclusive screening at the National Film Theatre in London. The film had colours, but in most places they had turned into orange. One could still see or sense the beauty of the film.”
The BFI persuaded the Contemporary Films to lend the print for restoration to the AMPASA. But Sikkim is yet to be restored. According to AMPASA sources, the results of the photo-chemical tests run on the film were most discouraging, and digital tests did not yield enough color to work on either. The only solution lies in a shot by shot digital restoration by a digital artist. However, the costs are prohibitive --- about $250,000 for a 52-minute documentary. The good news, on the other hand, is that the digital costs are coming down rapidly. In a couple of years, it is expected to be down to $100,000. So, right now the plan is to wait.
However, according to the AMPASA director Mike Pogorzelski, the Heffenrefer print, although almost without colour, is better than the other two. If and when Sikkim is digitally restored, it is the one that will be used.
The fate of Sikkim, therefore, is still hanging in the balance. |
| Abridged. Courtesy: The Statesman |
Top |
|
|
|
