Two months ago, Amitabh Bachchan took to the social networking sites to tweet about Charlie Chaplin's 124th birth anniversary
And now, Big B has gone a step ahead and has decided to lend his name to a global effort towards preservation of the legendary actor-filmmaker's body of work.
Turns out French filmmaker Serge Bromberg has been instrumental in getting Bachchan involved in the project. `The other names include Martin Scorsese and his The Film Foundation along with George Lucas Family Foundation, George Harrison's Material World Charitable Foundation.
Along with Bachchan are Alexander Payne (Oscar-winning director of The Descendants) and Shivendra Singh Dungarpur (who earlier made the documentary Celluloid Man) in the board. They've all come together to support the Chaplin restoration,` says an insider.
Dungarpur, who is currently in Italy to be part of the Cineteca di Bologna, which has been restoring in close collaboration with the Chaplin Estate Chaplin's long and medium feature films, sounds upbeat about the endeavour.
`Restoring and preserving Chaplin's films has been an ongoing process. For this particular reason, we're collaborating with archives from around the world. And having Bachchan on board is a huge boost.
He'll be backing the restoration of the 1916 film The Footwalker which was directed by and starred Chaplin in the lead role,` adds Dungarpur, before musing, `I'm yet to find someone from the film fraternity who isn't inspired by Chaplin.`
Off to a fresh start
26 films are on the anvil to be restored. A few of the early titles are listed below...
The Tramp (1915)
The Pawnshop (1916)
One A.M. (1916)
The Immigrant (1917)
Easy Street (1917)
The Gold Rush (1925)
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