There is a temporal, lyrical beauty to Aravindan Govindan work. Like the land it is set in, there is a feeling that the heat and sweat is slowly trickling away as toil is engaged. Malayalam cinema is well know for this. Like its cousin cinema, Bengali, it lives outside of the high octane, maximum cinema music of Hindi cinema. Residing instead in the Arthouse realms. Watch one is to see entertainment, the other is to see life in all its complexity. THE CIRCUS TENT was once believed lost. On a visit recently to the Mumbai based museum of cinema will tip you off to this. It is also the place where it was rediscovered. Well in their eyes at least.

As a troupe of real-life circus artistes and performers trundle into a small village, on the banks of the Bharathappuzha river, the place starts to buzz with excitement. The villagers wonder at what they will see. The performers are majestic and marvels. We hear from those watching the performances and see how it is capturing the interaction of performers and villagers. Losing themselves in the events. Though the film is hard to full narrate, it is easy to watch. There are facets of documentary and drama. You see Ozu, Ray and the Maysles brothers in the frame. Real and performed. Life and art maybe. There are hopes and dreams, desires and remedies of the marginalised inhabitants and their world.

Aravindan Govindan THE CIRCUS TENT is described as an ‘allegorical and poetic film’. This is a nice way of saying like Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, the film is more than words and the sum of its parts. It is. Though I felt that there were obvious parallels to other films, it is as likely me searching myself for reference as Govindan. The new transfer is stellar. Saving the black and white, especially in the night scenes, from dampened night or bleached white. It has a few issues with depth of field but like as not, that is the magic of cinematography over the restoration. I have to complain that there is little extras on the disc to add to the film. The son comes across as a little self involved (sadly Indian art house film makers need this to be taken seriously in a world that values quantitively qualifications like the Tory party’s wet dream.) The booklet has some points to sell it but I just wanted more. However, it is always great to see Indian cinema given the recognition it deserves.

• The Circus Tent (Thamp̄, 1978) presented from the new 4K restoration by Film Heritage Foundation.
• Exclusive, newly filmed interview with photographer Ramu Aravindan, son of the legendary Aravindan Govindan.
• The Circus Tent at Cannes 2022: Shivendra Singh Dungarpur and actor Jalaja interviewed by Anupama Chopra for Film Companion.
• 24-page booklet with new writing by filmmaker and Film Heritage Foundation founder Shivendra Singh Dungarpur.
• New and improved English subtitle translation.
• World premiere release on Blu-ray.
• Region free Blu-ray (A/B/C).