Restored & reborn: The 4K revolution reviving Indian cinema

Films from a bygone era are getting a new lease of life, in restored, 4K resolution. It’s introducing a new generation of audiences to cinematic legends, but it’s also having another, more unexpected benefit: It’s bringing families closer.

Imagine a situation in which a grandfather and his grandson are leaving a theatre after watching the 4K restored version of the 1957 Hindi classic Pyaasa. The grandson, a product of today’s highly visual world, says, ‘The dream song in Pyaasa was shot so well for its time.” After almost a minute, the grandfather asks the grandson, “Didn’t you like the ‘lift’ metaphor in the scene after the dream song in which Mala Sinha’s character unconsciously conveys to Guru Dutt’s character that she wanted to rise in life and wouldn’t settle for a relatively poor and impractical life with him?’ The grandson says, “Yes, that scene was also shot so well” The grandfather smiles and understands that he relived what he had cherished from the classic and his grandson experienced what he chose to experience—an exquisite marriage of ‘substance’ and ‘visual fidelity’. And just like that, the two, generations apart, have something to bond over as they leave the theatre.

This is a common experience for many Indians in recent months, as several old classics in many regional languages are being re-released in theatres following a 4K restoration. Films such as Awaara (1951), Pyaasa (1957), Silsila (1981), Umrao Jaan (1981), Chandni (1989), Samrajyam (1990), Ravanaprabhu (2001) and Varsham (2004) all got theatrical re-releases, and industry observers have said there is a line-up of at least six more films which are undergoing restoration. These include Pakeezah (1972), The Godfather II (1974) and Shiva (1989).

“Film restoration has two benefits: One is preservation, where you restore a valuable piece of film, but which may not make money even after a theatrical release. And second, you restore a classic like Sholay, which is likely to be a commercial success as well. This differentiation of films is key,” said Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, founder and director, Film Heritage Foundation, a non-profit that’s into restoration.

The Film Heritage Foundation, in association with director Martin Scorsese’s film restoration company, Film Foundation, restored Uday Shankar’s 1948 film Kalpana in 2012, the first Indian film to be restored in 4K.

Need of the hour

At a time when more mainstream cinema is being rejected for being too crass, violent or over-the-top, audiences are craving the simplicity of stories and depth of the performances from another era. Meanwhile, a different set of viewers appreciate the grand expanse of a visually clear classic on 70mm film. The re-released masterpieces thus offer something to everyone, creating a celebratory environment where the two sections of viewers appreciate old classics in their own unique ways.

This wave of restorations can also be attributed to more and better access to mobile streaming. “In the past few years, people have become used to a certain quality of content which they consume on smart TVs, smartphones, tablets, etc,” explained Hiren Gada, CEO, Shemaroo Entertainment.

If anything, streamers and platforms don’t even prefer to accept films that aren’t in 4K anymore. “Rights holders of old films in 4K version have an advantage over rights holders of the same old film in a non-4K version, because avenues of monetising films are limited for the latter,” said Sushil Kumar Agrawal, CEO, Ultra Media and Entertainment Group.

Pandemic boom

The trend properly took off during the pandemic. With millions of people locked down at home and the pipeline of new films firmly turned off, restored films became a lifeline. “During Covid, there was no new content. It was a steady supply of old films in 4K which [entertained] audiences,” said Kavita Prasad, managing director, Prasad Corporation, one of the oldest film laboratories in India.

Even post-lockdown, in the early phase, it was film festivals honouring legendary actors such as Amitabh Bachchan, Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand and A Nageshwar Rao, organised by the Film Heritage Foundation in collaboration with rights holders of these films, that revived footfalls in theatres. “The Amitabh Bachchan Film Festival in October 2022, which showed 11 of his films, was a phenomenal success. It did two things: It brought people back into cinema halls, which wasn’t happening since Covid. And it showed the success of old classics,” Dungarpur said. “It then culminated with the release of 4K versions of Telugu film icon A Nageshwar Rao’s movies on his birth centenary in September last year.”

Poor box-office performance of new Hindi films in the past few years has also hastened the trend. “Today, most new films don’t run beyond a week or 15 days. Multiplexes with multiple screens need [more] content. This need is being fulfilled by the old classics in 4K. In the South, this trend has caught on quite a bit thanks to the loyal fan bases of actors,” Prasad added.

And then, there are the producers who look at it as a form of reviving cultural memories and reliving nostalgia. “Nostalgia has value and it always sells. The 4K restoration movement marks a turning point for Indian cinema. It is about reviving our cultural memory for a new generation of audiences. It also provides today’s audiences opportunities to experience the same grandeur and emotion that once defined the golden age of Hindi cinema,” explained Suniel Wadhwa, co-founder and director, Karmic Films.

Talking business

But this has also triggered a natural question among industry observers: Will it be a fleeting trend, or does it make long-term business sense? One key advantage of restoring old films is the cost.

According to leading film laboratories, restoring an old film in 4K costs about Rs 20 to 60 lakh, depending on the condition of the original source material. “The cost of restoring old films is lesser than making a new film. One would have to invest at least Rs 10 to 50 crore to make a new film. But restoring an old film not only costs less, but also saves on marketing costs. Moreover, these films have already been made and were proven to have an appeal among audiences,” Prasad added.

But not all old classic films (especially Hindi) restored in 4K have met with success. “We restored a bunch of Guru Dutt films. But not all of them worked out commercially. There were no takers for Baaz (1953), but Pyaasa (1957) worked,” shared Sushil Kumar Agrawal, CEO, Ultra Media and Entertainment Group, which restored Guru Dutt’s films.So, rights holders of these old films have been forming portfolios of 10-15 restored movies and then gauging their long-term performance, instead of assessing those of individual restored works. “A portfolio of old films restored in 4K can easily provide an internal rate of return (annual return) of at least 20% in the next three to five years post its restoration,” Gada added.

Companies which are into the business of film restoration also pointed out that 4K films provide premium advertising rates on CTVs and YouTube. According to a recent study by media and entertainment research firm Ormax Media, the CTV audience in India has grown by 85% to 129.2 million in 2025 from 69.7 million in 2024, reflecting the swift adoption of CTVs.

“Restoration is a one-time exercise. It increases a film’s reach significantly. A film’s rights holder can monetise it on more, bigger or better screens, targeting more premium audiences,” Gada said. “A 4K film on CTVs can easily fetch premium advertising rates, as it is targeted specifically to premium viewers who prefer superior visual quality,” added Gada.

At present, on average, at least 10% of libraries of aggregators have been restored in 4K, including other stages of upgradation in the visual format. Overall, these aggregators have restored 80-90% of their libraries in HD formats. And in the coming years, the restoration of films in 4K is likely to increase even further, given the available avenues for monetisation. Industry observers believe that a lack of clarity regarding the lineup of new Hindi films for the next year may also work in the restored films’ favour.

They also believe that a genuine classic made 20 years later will have takers rather than merely re-releasing an old film in 4K. “A classic film which has a popular appeal can provide a huge 300-400% profit when monetised through theatrical and non-theatrical ways. Genuine classics have better stories which are highly engaging. People relate to these and want to see them in a better proposition, like in 4K,” explained Koushik Bhattacharya, founder, Quality Matters, a company which is into film restoration.

Understanding: What is a 4K film?

4K is essentially a display resolution of a screen. A 4K film typically shows the size of a screen horizontally and vertically in terms of pixels. Typically, a 4K film would have the following format: 4096 (size of the horizontal screen) x 2160 (size of the vertical screen) pixels.