Guru Dutt's milestone PYAASA gets a new lease of life; to compete at ‘Venice Classics Award’

It is heartening to know that legendary filmmaker Guru Dutt’s all time hit classic PYAASA, that was lying in cans decaying for years has got a new lease of life thanks to Indian film restoring firm Ultra Media and Entertainment. 

What’s more the movie will now compete with 20 other prestigious restored films from all over the world for the coveted ‘Venice Classics Award’ for the best restored film, at the 72nd Venice Film Festival that will be held from September 2-12 in Venice.

Sushilkumar Agrawal, CEO, Ultra Media and Entertainment in an interview said, “When we found our Indian classic films absents in the retro section of such prestigious fests, we decided to restore PYAASA from our library.”


Ask him was it an arduous task to restore the film, Agrawal, said, “When we got the film from archives, it was completely melted, with parts damaged or lost. It took us nearly four months to restore this film frame by frame and we are happy that the final outcome of the restored version can now be seen in its original form.”

Agrawal says, “I have picked PYAASA because Guru Dutt has a huge following globally. Further PYAASA is one of the most adorable films both artistically and commercially. It is included in the Time Top 100 films of all time.”

Ultra Media and Entertainment is also planning a major theatrical release of PYAASA, post its screening at the Venice Film Festival. 

Truly if PYAASA gets a warm welcome there is hope of other Indian classics films becoming immortal. 

Present generation readers may be surprised to know that PYAASA was such a hit that it was remade in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu.

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