WOW! That restoration looks amazing - could be that DVD that existed so far have been of very poor quality and sourced but it's a day and night difference between whats been done for the HD format compared with anything seen before.

Ali

It is my fav Indian blu-ray

A great film, and a great disc. Well done Criterion!

and "Shree 420" and "Subarnarekha" and "Chaudhvin Ka Chand" and "Jagte Raho" and... "Mughal-E-Azam" (the colorised version looks so poor from a restoration viewpoint).

The gaudy colors were bad enough, but cropping the frames to get the fake 1.86:1 aspect ratio, was totally unforgivable and almost as big a tragedy as the one depicted in the film.

http://www.criterionforum.org/DVD-revie ... ection/850

Is that Begum Akhtar in 3rd pic?

I'm happy with the disc. The detail and sharpness is often superb for an interpositive. It is not a full digital restoration, though.
They left quite some scratches and dirt in the picture and some other things that could have been dealt with were left alone.
Better like this than badly done clean up, though. It looks always like film.
The ideal film to follow up on this one is "Umrao Jaan", of course. Rekha is a lot prettier than the dancer in this film.

Just watched the movie, on the Criterion blu ray, Thanks Zoran bhai , i must say that i am really impressed with this release, awesome. Something i was looking forward to and hoping for. Really, kudos to criterion. AQ and PQ IS brilliant. The film itslef is a delight. Satyajit Rays classic is much deserved on blu ray. You do really feel for the zamindar and his incapability to change with the circumstances around him. The music is treat. Watching and listening to the music appealedto my inner artsy self. Ustad Vilayat Khan has composed beautiful and intricate pieces for the movie, the opening and the kathak dance piece are are a pure delight. Dont waste time if you have not seen the movie. Criterion has done an excellent job, and the supplements are just as intriguing. 5/5 all round!

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have only flicked through my disc to check the quality which is very impressive. Hopefully more Ray will be forthcoming from Criterion.

[quote="sursubbu"]Th is is one of my favorite Satyajit Ray films and a Criterion release would be a blind buy for me. I'm surprised they're not including any restoration demonstration. I would have thought it'd be quite a job restoring the original film elements. The Benegal docu on ay is a wonderful bonus. I hope Criterion gets some Benegal on their catalog too. I heard Suraj ka Saatwan Ghoda had a got an excellent DVD release on the Cinebella label. Anyone here seen it? Comments? Sadly in India, Ultra was the release label and the transfer is a disgrace. Well at least I have this gem of a movie to savor.

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If you are waiting for a decent DVD of Suraj ka Saatwan Ghoda, now your wait is over as NFDC is releasing all their classics with restored version with association of shemarroo... under the flag of "Cinemas of India"... Suraj ka Saatwan Ghoda is also there....

Have that and several other films released under the NFDC label. The new releases are not flawless but they're a much better viewing experience than most previous releases of these films and probably the best we'll get to see in a very long time.

Criterion version of Ray's Charulata releasing soon(Bluray review below). A definite must have

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/dvdreview ... review.htm

Like it has been said earlier that it wasn't cropped to 1.85 or widescreen. It was cropped to 1.50:1 to cover up film damages. "Cropped to widescreen or 1.85/1.86" isn't the correct terminology. The film has shakes and damages which needed to be covered up (I wish they cleaned it to preserve the 1.33 ratio).
Well, as for Naya Daur and Hum Dono, they were cropped to 1.78 and 2.35 respectively.

See, you'll find a difference here.
The first one shows the OAR, the second shows the Colorized version's ratio and the 3rd is what we think... I.e, 1.78:1