Archive · 9 Aug 2026
Rahul Bose's 1994 Debut 'English August' to Premiere at Venice
A long time ago, in 1994, a movie called 'English August' was made in India.
A man named Rahul Bose acted in it, and it was his very first movie.
But the movie got lost!
The negatives, the master copy of a film, were destroyed in a flood.
For many years, nobody could watch it.
Then, in 2020, someone found an old print of the movie in a special archive.
Experts carefully restored it in very good quality, called 4K.
Now, the movie is going to a big film festival in Venice, Italy, to be shown for the first time.
Rahul Bose is very happy, even though he won't be going to Venice.
He hopes the movie will also play in theaters in India and appear on streaming services.
Rahul Bose's 1994 debut film 'English August,' directed by Dev Benegal, will have its world premiere at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival in September.
The film was declared 'lost' after its negatives were destroyed by floods at Prasad Labs' storage facility.
A 35 mm print was discovered at the National Film Archives of India in 2020 and the film was restored in 4K.
'English August' will screen in the 'Venice Classics' section; Bose will not attend Venice because there will be no Q-and-A session, but plans to attend the Mumbai screening.
Based on Upamanyu Chatterjee's 1988 novel, the film stars Bose as Agastya Sen, an IAS officer who feels like a foreigner in his own country.
- Who
- Rahul Bose (lead actor), Dev Benegal (director), and author Upamanyu Chatterjee, whose 1988 novel inspired the film
- What
- The long-lost 1994 film 'English August,' restored in 4K, will have its world premiere in the Venice Classics section
- When
- In September, 32 years after the film was made in 1994
- Where
- 83rd Venice International Film Festival; the surviving print was found at the National Film Archives of India
- Why
- The film was restored after a 35 mm print was discovered in 2020, following the destruction of the original negatives in floods
- Film
- English August
- Director
- Dev Benegal
- Lead actor
- Rahul Bose
- Based on
- Upamanyu Chatterjee's 1988 novel
- Producer
- Anuradha Parikh
- Premiere
- 83rd Venice International Film Festival, September
- Section
- Venice Classics
- Discovery and restoration
- 35 mm print found at National Film Archives of India in 2020; restored in 4K