pune the concept of audio restoration is fast gaining ground with films old and new undergoing makeovers for archival purposes the facility is available at a punebased studio which is currently restoring sound for some indian and hollywood classics and films made by the national film development corporation nfdcthe process involves intricate scanning cleaning and restructuring of sounds tracks and can sometime cost much more than film restorationthe concept of sound restoration is still at a nascent stage in india however latest breakthroughs in audio restoration technology are allowing larger volumes of films to be put through the audio restoration process thereby making the process affordable as compared to 10 to 15 per cent of the volume undergoing audio restoration previously today around 30 per cent of the volume can be taken on says purab gujar ceo of cameo digital systems that has done audio restoration of regional indian hollywood and european films a package of four films based on stories penned by nobel laureate rabindranath tagore including natir puja kabuliwala and teen kanya is currently being restored by gujars studio for the ministry of culture also being cleaned up is the sound track of the documentary on tagore made by acclaimed filmmaker satyajit raysoundtracks of classics made by legendary filmmakers like charlie chaplin akira kurosawa michelangelo antonioni and federico fellini among others have already been restored in the near future the concept of sound restoration will catch up in india the technological evolution is now allowing convergence of technologies related to both image and sound thereby making restoration much easier gujar addedthe process of audio restoration in laymans terms involves analysis of the various audio defects on a films soundtrack cleaning scanning and digitisation wherever required and mastering of the restored audio tape as per the source chosen the restored sound track is mastered as per the source for broadcast like television bluray multiplex screening and the like as of now the cost of audio restoration is around rs 15 lakh per film says gujar his team is also in the process of setting up an asset management system at the national film archive of india nfai for easier accessibility of the three lakhodd film reels archived there we hope to do audio restoration for the classics stored at nfai he said