Hai Akhtari | Documentary | Begum Akhtar |S. Kalidas Remastered HD |

In 1996 I was working as a cameraman with TVI (BiTV) and was engaged to shoot a documentary "Hai Akhtari" on the noted singer, Begum Akhtar. The documentary was very well received and telecast repeatedly. This was the era when we were still using tape and HD was yet to become a standard.

This film was made during the time when we had no video or footages of Begum Akhtar and just a few photos. We had no budget for actors nor props and we were left to our own very minimalist devices to develop scenes where we wanted the audience to feel the presence of history, her presence.

With very basic lights and a series of power extension boards we somehow managed to light up the rooms in Hassan Rashid's ancestral home to recreate the feeling of a mehfil. It was a very memorable experience for all of us, no budget and just enthusiasm and a passion for creating meaningful cinema.

Over time the documentary almost all but disappeared until recently I found a 388 x 244 low resolution version. For a while I sat on that lores print wondering what to do with it. Recently I discovered TOPAZ AI and I started using it to enhance the video which I eventually managed to upscale to 1080 and cleaned it up on Da Vinci Resolve Studio. It is still not the best, but definitely viewable for music aficionados at least.

Akhtari Bai Faizabadi, also known as Begum Akhtar, was an Indian singer and actress. Dubbed "Mallika-e-Ghazal", she is regarded as one of the greatest singers of ghazal, dadra, and thumri genres of Hindustani classical music.


Scripted and Directed by: S.Kalidas
Producer : Saurabh Bhattacharya
Cinematography : Sachin Singh
Editor and Audio Mastering : Hassan Rashid



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Cover Photo Courtesy David Fenster shows Begum Akhtar with Avatar Meher Baba and Maharani of Baroda Shanta Devi,