The tribute in a can

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A royal scion, Shivendra Singh Dungarpur discovered his love for films through his maternal grandmother, Usha Rani, the Maharani of Dumaron, Bihar. “She would take me to the theatre and book the entire hall to watch films,” recalls this filmmaker, fondly. “I saw all the great films with her, like Pakeezah and Mughal-e-Azam.

When I came back home, my grandpa would show us Charlie Chaplin’s films. I fell in love with the medium,” adds Shivendra, who hails from the royal family of Dungarpur, Rajasthan.
Going to Doon School further fanned his passion for films. “My best friend in school was actor Chandrachur Singh. We were very clear back then that I wanted to become a filmmaker and he wanted to pursue acting. But, when I told my dad about this decision, he didn’t talk to me at all. My family was against it and it was a huge struggle. But films are my passion,” he reiterates.
Celluloid Man is his documentary on P.K Nair, the founder of the National Film Archive of India, a film that Shivendra says he was spurred on to make because of the sorry state of the archives. “It’s a long story. The archive was founded in 1964 and P.K. Nair was the maverick behind restoring films and archiving them. He was staying right outside the archive even after his retirement. When I visited it recently, the films were in a very bad state. The films that Nair sir had showed us and preserved were not being looked after. That incensed me and I decided to make a film on it,” explains this Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) graduate.
Making Celluloid Man was a result of an organic love of film and filmmaking process. “We shot this documentary only on film, as a tribute to Nair sir. He still had cans of films that we used. I discovered, after our shooting was over, what I wanted to do next: to preserve and restore films, taking forward Nair sir’s legacy,” says Shivendra, who is in the process of setting up a foundation that will focus on preserving our country’s cinematic heritage.
“The only way to look forward is to go back. There are so many movies that need to be preserved. The foundation will not just focus on films but also artefacts, cameras, projectors, ticket stubs — anything to do with films. That’s the mission of my life. The future generation can get to see the history of Indian cinema and not just Bollywood. With the past, you create the future,” he adds.
Celluloid Man received a tremendous response, especially at international film festivals. “People have started realising the true value of what Indian cinema is all about. It doesn’t just mean Bollywood. Nair collected films from all over India. We need to understand the value of what used to be preserved,” he points out.
Meeting renowned filmmakers is also on Shivendra’s list. “I met Andrzej Wajda, the Polish filmmaker, a great master of world cinema. I had the fortune of spending time and shooting with him. I also met Manoel de Oliveria, a filmmaker who is 104 and is still making films. He started making films before the sound era and I went all the way to Portugal to meet him,” he reveals, with a hint of pride.
For this director, the most cherished moment was receiving a letter from ace filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. He recalls, “At FTII, I was really inspired by Akira Kurosawa. I wrote to him about the Shakespearean influences in his films. He wrote back to me and I can’t tell you what that meant to a film student.”