The original negative of ‘Dhruba’, the only full-length film directed by national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam, has been lost forever.
Saugata Nandi, director of Kolkata’s NT1 Studio, recently confirmed to the media that the nitrate print of the film had completely deteriorated and cannot be restored.
Nazrul, then 31, co-directed the production with Satyendranath De and also appeared in it. B
ased on Girish Chandra Ghosh’s play Bhakta Dhruv, the film was released in Kolkata in 1934 under the banner of Pioneer Film Corporation/Madan Theatres.
NT1 Studio, founded in 1931, had long stored many old negatives. But nitrate film is fragile and highly flammable, deteriorating rapidly without proper cold storage.
According to Nandi, Dhruv’s negative had been damaged years ago and was considered a fire hazard, leaving it beyond saving.
He added that the film may once have been listed for preservation at India’s National Film Archive, but it no longer appears in their catalogue. The situation is no better in Bangladesh: neither Nazrul’s family nor the Kabi Nazrul Institute has a copy.
Only a single reel, around 10 minutes of footage, is preserved at the Bangladesh Film Archive. A few brief black-and-white excerpts circulate online, but the complete film is considered lost.
