John Abraham’s ‘Amma Ariyan’ screened at Cannes in restored 4K version
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New Delhi: Cult Malayalam classic Amma Ariyan was screened in the Cannes Classics section at the Cannes Film Festival in a newly restored 4K version by the Film Heritage Foundation.
Originally released in 1986, the 115-minute film is regarded as one of the most radical works in Indian cinema. Directed by the late John Abraham, known for his politically charged and unconventional storytelling, the film was his last work before his death in 1987.
The screening took place on Saturday at the prestigious festival in Cannes on the French Riviera in southern France. Amma Ariyan was the only Indian film featured in the Cannes Classics section this year.
Produced by the Odessa Collective — a group of film enthusiasts co-founded by Abraham — the film is set against the backdrop of political unrest in 1970s Kerala. It follows the journey of Purushan, who travels to inform a mother about her son’s death, gradually gathering companions along the way in a narrative that becomes both deeply personal and political.
The Film Heritage Foundation said the restoration process, which began in 2023, faced major challenges due to the absence of quality source material. Initially, only a poor online copy of the film was available.
After locating surviving members of the Odessa Collective and obtaining their permission, a global search through the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) led to the discovery of just two 35mm prints at the National Film Archive of India — one subtitled and one unsubtitled.
No original camera negative had survived, and the prints accessed in 2024 were found to be heavily damaged with scratches, broken splices and emulsion deterioration.
Following initial conservation work in India, restoration was carried out at L'Immagine Ritrovata in Bologna and Digital Film Restore Pvt. Ltd.
The unsubtitled print was used as the primary source, while the subtitled version helped fill missing portions. The restoration demanded extensive manual work, especially in sound restoration, involving more than 4,000 interventions to correct noise, dropouts and inconsistencies.
The process was closely supervised by cinematographer Venu and editor Bina Paul to preserve the film’s original visual and audio aesthetics, the foundation said.
Film Heritage Foundation’s earlier restorations, including Thamp by Aravindan Govindan, Ishanou by Aribam Syam Sharma, Manthan by Shyam Benegal, Aranyer Din Ratri by Satyajit Ray and Gehenu Lamai by Sumitra Peries, have also had red-carpet world premieres at Cannes between 2022 and 2025.
With PTI inputs