A rare print of Satyajit Ray’s controversial film, ‘Sikkim’, has been restored by the Oscars Academy, and will be shown during the 14th Kolkata Film Festival to be held from November 10 to 17.

The documentary film, made in 1971, was banned by Indian censors for glorifying monarchy in a Himalayan kingdom that acceded to India. Commissioned by the then Chogyal King of Sikkim and his wife, the film earned censorship both from them and from the Indian government after the state’s accession to India in 1975.

Arup K. De, head of the Society for the Preservation of Satyajit Ray Films, opines: “To imagine Satyajit Ray would glorify monarchy over democracy is utterly wrong because he is the same person who could make films ridiculing monarchy as we see in ‘Hirak Rajar Deshe’.”

It was thought that all the prints of the hour-long documentary had been destroyed after it was banned by India. However, one was found at the British Film Institute in 2003, and it was restored digitally frame-by-frame by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Josef Lindner, preservationist with the U S Academy of Motion Pictures, told Reuters: “If everything works out, the video version would be shown at the Kolkata Film Festival. The 35 mm version would be ready by end of the year.”

According to an American Centre official, the rights of the film at present rest with a trust which had already given informal permission for the screening.