This museum in Kochi has projectors, film reels and posters from the 1950s

For 71-year-old Jaya Kamath, the HBK Museum is a museum of memories, a token of her love for her late husband, H Balakrishna Kamath, whom she named for doing something unique and satisfying. “Challenges are inevitable. It’s easy if you copy what others are doing. Walking on different paths gives me self-satisfaction and that’s why I started this project,” he said. The museum is a treasure trove of film paraphernalia, especially 16mm reels and film projectors.

HBK Museum Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

The museum displays restored old movie posters, (the oldest being a 1959 movie, Nadodical) wooden blocks (the same as those used for block printing cloth) are used to print film notices, 16mm reel rolls, some 35mm and 8mm rolls, spool splicers, film rewinders (spools), film projectors of various sizes, film catalogs. and projector lenses. For anyone interested in the evolution of film projection/screening equipment, this is a good place to start.

Located behind a gate on the bustling Nettipadam Road, off MG Road, this quaint 500 square feet building was once a home. Jaya came here, from Thiruvananthapuram, as a newlywed in the 1970s. 60-year strange show in part of the building, which the paint tries to hide.

One of the 16mm projectors in the museum | Photo Credit: THULASI KAKKAT

When Jaya moved out of the house after Kamath’s death in 2015, she left her corpus of ‘work’ there because she couldn’t take everything her husband had accumulated over 50 years. Although an employee of Travancore Cochin Chemicals (TCC), Eloor, Kamath’s weekend hobby is traveling to places in and around Ernakulam with a movie projector and 16mm roll film. Not only Malayalam but also popular movies in other languages.

As one steps into the small house, one is greeted by Balakrishna Kamath’s photographs. The other two rooms serve as ‘galleries’; the display board is the wall as part of the old furniture such as chairs and hook tables, and some shelves. The white cotton curtain also serves as a ‘wall’ to hang movie posters on. There is even a white screen about six feet by five feet, which the contents of the 16mm reels were projected.

After seven years of confinement, his house fell apart. Although they tried to maintain the house with limited resources, Jaya confirmed that in the process some archival materials were destroyed by the crew. It gave him an insight into the amount of material Kamath had left behind. “I’ve been thinking about what to do. There must be something important,” he said. That’s when filmmaker VK Subhash came into the picture.

Jaya’s labor of love, she admits, would not have been possible without the help of Subhash, who calls her ‘Amma’. “It was pure serendipity or destiny that we met. We met at St. Teresa’s College, in 2023, where my documentary, The Green Man being filtered. Amma came to me and told me about the materials and equipment her husband had and asked if there was anything we could do,” said Subhash who has also been financially restored by restoring some of the materials. He told me about Kamath and how he traveled with projection equipment and 16mm film roll.

Balakrishna Kamath box used for ferry | Photo Credit: THULASI KAKKAT

When Subhash went home, he said, everything was chaotic everywhere. He had to scavenge for material – renovation debris and discarded appliances around the house. “It’s a lot of work. But when I saw the material here, I knew it was a gold mine!” said.

Subhash, a filmmaker, spends time at the museum when he is not busy with work. He restored several torn posters, including Bharathan’s character poster Nidra; there is the original poster of the classic 1964 film Bhargavi Nilayam. After three months of filtering, cleaning and restoration, the museum will be ready in May 2024.

Jaya does not remember how her husband became interested in film projections. “He started in the late 1960s; at that time he had a friend with whom he was going to work. However, in 1971-72 he attacked himself. He then began to go anywhere, sometimes I also accompanied him,” he said. One of his memories was a trip to Cheruthoni with Kamath, when the Idukki dam was being built to synchronize a film for the engineers and others involved in its construction.

Pointing to Kamath’s trusted bicycle mounted on one of the walls, he said, “He used to cycle everywhere. He would pick up the spools from the railway station – Ernakulam Junction or Ernakulam South – where they would be sent from either Madras (Chennai), Mumbai and even Kolkata. This bike has been with him for over 40 years!” said Jaya. The boxes containing the spools would be loaded on the carrier and transported. In the mid-1980s, Kamath began buying reels.

Bharathan’s ‘Nidra’ character poster | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Judging by the number of projectors, it seems Kamath can’t afford to throw away the equipment, most of which he buys second-hand. Although when he started, he rented a projector, for example, Rama Varma Club had one, which he later bought. Some of Kamath’s projectors are GB Bell and Howell, RCA and Photophone, in addition to the Chinon Sound SP-330 8mm film projector.

The films come from companies that rent out reels for projection like Kamath who show the films in film societies, educational institutions, and clubs. People like him are very important to the country’s film society movement that introduces Malayali audiences not only to Malayalam or Tamil, but also classics from other languages ​​and world cinema.

Kamath mainly plays 16mm films, but he also has a collection of original 8mm film reels from Hollywood movies like Winnie the Pooh and Walt Disney productions such as Duel of Wizards, Brer Rabbit and Tar Baby and The Jungle Book. The audience for the 8mm reel is smaller, people who want to see it in person.

‘Nadodical’ poster and block used to make movie news | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

In the 1990s, with the advancement of technology, projections like Kamath’s became redundant. Although he stopped traveling to film screens, he wanted to do something with the material and equipment he collected but he fell ill and died at the age of 65.

As expected, most of the projectors did not work, but Jaya and Subhash said, “Someone from Alappuzha contacted us and said they can fix this. If that happens, we will know what the condition of the film is. We will know in a week. .” The museum has IV Sasi film rolls such as Hey Naadu, Ikiyenkilumand Mean; Vincent’s Bhargavi Nilayam and Ramu Kariyat Moodupadam among others.

Balakrishna Kamath attempts to take a box of spools in a box the size of a lucky bag asking why. “For my husband, it’s not about making money and accumulating wealth. He sees it as an act for society, a service to introduce people to cinema! says Jaya.

Entry is free; HBK Museum on Jalan Nettipadam, opposite Avenue Bupati, open 11.00-17.00