Satyajit Ray in action during the shoot for Sakha Prasakha

The cloud over the screening of Satyajit Ray’s Sikkim at the 14th Calcutta Film festival is growing darker by the day.

The DVD format of the 60-minute documentary on the Himalayan state was supposed to reach the American Center from Los Angeles by Monday. But it hasn’t.

“We do not have any information about the DVD. We’ve heard it is in transit. It may reach us by the end of the week,” said American Center director Douglas G. Kelly.

The 1971 documentary, commissioned by the then Chogyal (king) of Sikkim, was banned by both Sikkim and Indian governments on the ground that it highlighted monarchy.

The film had been screened only once since — a private show in Priya 38 years back. All the prints of the film were destroyed except one at the British Film Institute, which is being restored at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, in Los Angeles.

“We are still working on a 35mm version of Sikkim. It’s among the most difficult films to restore. The colour has completely faded and the restoration is costing us around $75,000. We are not too sure of the projection in Nandan, where we intend to screen the DVD format. Plus, we have not yet received the DVD,” said Josef Lindner, the archivist at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Ray’s son Sandip, thrilled at the prospect of the screening, voiced his disappointment on Monday: “I’ve heard that the DVD has not reached Calcutta. Plus there has been no public announcement from Nandan. The American Center is planning to screen the film at the end of the festival. They might get the DVD by then and show it, provided the certificate from the Royal Trust of Sikkim arrives.”

The Nandan authorities, too, aren’t sure whether Sikkim would at all be screened at the festival. “Nothing has been finalised. We are yet to take a decision on the screening of the documentary,” said Nilanjan Chatterjee the Nandan CEO and director of Calcutta Film Festival.