India, May 21 -- It took the help of the Satyajit Ray fanboy in Wes Anderson, plus the persistence of filmmaker Martin Scorsese, the team of The Film Foundation and the efforts of Shivendra Singh Dungarpur and the Film Heritage Foundation to restore Aranyer Din Ratri (Days and Nights in the Forest). It is an important moment for the history of Indian Cinema.

The crucial act of preservation of the film makes for a beautiful opportunity to revisit it once more. A great film endures- over time, place and generations- and opens up new avenues of thought and interrogation. Aranyer Din Ratri, which first released in 1970, is one such film. Even 55 years later, it remains as pointed in its critique of unchecked privilege and bourgeois moralitie...