American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 48D

Celluloid Man
Documentary Pays Tribute
to India’s Premier Archivist
Celluloid Man spotlights the work of P.K. Nair, who, almost
single-handedly, has preserved India’s unique fi lm heritage.
For director-producer Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, his fi rst
feature-length documentary project was a monumental task as
well. Celluloid Man was shot using 11 cinematographers and almost
as many KODAK Film stocks. The documentary examines the
remarkable work of Nair who founded the National Film Archive
of India (NFAI). Featuring stalwarts from world cinema who were
infl uenced by Nair and his work, it also looks at their experiences
and the need to improve fi lm preservation efforts.
“Nair built the Archive can by can in a country where the
archiving of cinema is considered unimportant,” explains
Dungarpur. “It is thanks to him that the Archive still has nine
precious silent fi lms of the 1,700 silent fi lms made in India, and
that Dadasaheb Phalke is recognized as the ‘father of Indian
cinema.’”
Other treasures of the NFAI’s fi lm collection are the silent
fi lms of Himansu Rai and Franz Osten; the independent works
of Mehboob Khan, Raj Kapoor, Bimal Roy, Guru Dutt, and more;
several great fi lms from companies and studios of the 1930s and
1940s such as the Prabhat Film Company, New Theatres, and
Bombay Talkies, among others; as well as prints from
mainstream cinema and new Indian cinema.
Nair has infl uenced generations of Indian
fi lmmakers and shown us new worlds through
the prism of cinema. “As Nair speaks, we see
the history of Indian cinema unfold,” says
Dungarpur. “What emerges is a portrait of a
man so in love with cinema that even his family
had to take a back seat to his obsession. Although
now retired, he chooses to stay across the road
from the Archive, watching over his legacy.
The man is a living breathing museum.”
Dungarpur began his career
as an assistant director to his
mentor Gulzar, a writer-lyricistdirector-poet.
On Gulzar’s
suggestion, Dungarpur
enrolled in the Film and
Television Institute of
India (FTII) at Pune to
study fi lm directing and
scriptwriting. After
graduating from FTII,
he launched himself
as a producer-director
under the banner
Dungarpur Films in 2001.
Dungarpur has directed
about 400 commercials
for top advertising
agencies and brands.
His idea for the documentary took shape about two years ago
following a casual conversation with other cinephiles who were
discussing Nair. Dungarpur decided to visit him and was dismayed
with what he saw. The Archive was in a poor state with rusting
cans lying in the grass, thick cobwebs hanging from the shelves in
the vaults and Nair’s old offi ce turned into a junkyard. Determined
that this man’s legacy should not be forgotten, Dungarpur
undertook almost a dozen visits to convince the authorities to let
him fi lm with Nair at the Archive. “One of the most memorable
shoots for me,” Dungarpur recalls, “was when we traveled to a
village in south India where Nair had enabled the screening of fi lms
and the local farmers were talking about Satyajit Ray and (Ingmar)
Bergman.
“I used 11 directors of photography to shoot the documentary,
most of whom had graduated from the Film Institute in Pune where
I had studied fi lmmaking,” continues Dungarpur. “All these DPs
wanted to be part of the project for the same reason as me; they all
had the same sentiment for Nair.”
The fi lm was shot on 16mm and 35mm, and printed to 35mm.
The team used several stocks ranging from black-and-white
16mm to color negative fi lm. “The documentary contains clips
in various formats from the early days of cinema and I thought
it would be interesting that as the history of cinema unfolds, I
could use different stocks,” notes Dungarpur. “I was clear that this
project had to be shot on fi lm as Nair is a man who has devoted
his entire life to collecting fi lm cans and preserving actual fi lms.
I just love the smell of fi lm, and in my days at the Institute we
were constantly touching fi lm either on the STEENBECK or in
the projection room. So for me it had to be fi lm, it couldn’t be
anything else but fi lm.”
Cinematographer Aveek Mukhopadhyay agrees. “Shivi
(Dungarpur) dreamt this fi lm and I joined in along
with many others, primarily as a friend then as
a cinematographer. I strongly feel only fi lm
can make a cinematic dream possible.
In the tactile movement of the grain,
one can see a dream come true. So,
whenever I get a chance I use fi lm as
my image-making medium. Shivi also
thinks the same way.”
Santosh Thundiyil, another DP on
the project, echoes this sentiment.
“We were documenting a person
who has dedicated his life to fi lm
and the awareness of cinema,
how could we use anything other
than fi lm? It is the only medium
capable of archiving anything for a
long time. We have seen hundreds
of video and digital formats come
and go over a period of time, but fi lm has
remained constant for over a century.
American Cinematographer - September 2012

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