Customs release restored print of Uday Shankar's 'Kalpana'

Mumbai, July 30 (IANS) After a delay of 25 days, the restored digital print of "Kalpana" - noted dancer Uday Shankar's 1948 film on experimental dance - was finally handed over to its Indian restorer who will give it to the National Film Archives of India (NFAI).

The film was digitally enhanced after Indian restorer Shivendra Singh Dungarpur collaborated with Hollywood filmmaker Martin Scorsese, who undertook the restoration process.

The restored digital print arrived in India July 5, but was stuck at customs. It was finally delivered to Dungarpur Monday.

"There were some unresolved issues owing to which the department could not clear the release of the print. Hence, it was lying in the warehouse of the international courier agency UPS Solutions," a customs official told IANS.

An official from UPS Solution Monday told IANS that it has obtained necessary clearances and that the shipment has been delivered.

"Kalpana" is considered to be a masterpiece by film antiquarians and dance historians alike who consider it to be an ode to experimental choreography.

The film was shown at Cannes this May after a painstaking six-month restoration in Bologna in northern Italy by Scorsese.