MUMBAI: Vidhu Vinod Chopra has decided to get all his earlier seven films restored, knowing very well that older prints tend to degenerate both visibly and audibly after some point of time.

It is learnt that Chopra was hobnobbing with the idea to restore his films like Sazaye Maut, Khamosh, Parinda, 1942: A Love Story, Kareeb, Mission Kashmir and Parineeta because he feels that the films are looking visually old and the audio too doesn‘t sound half as great as a new film.

The restoration would enhance the longevity of the films. Adding to that, the sound of the films would be done on Dolby 5.1 that has multiple tracks recording for sound. Earlier, films had only monolith (one-track) sound.

"The new 5.1 sound takes the film to a completely different level," he enthused, eager to share his experience with the restored version. "Take the scene where Jackie Shroff shoots at a chain. Previously everything was in the mono track. But now when the chain moves towards left and right, the sounds from the speakers is something else altogether," Chopra said in a statement.

It is learnt that the process will cost Chopra about Rs 2.5 to 3 million a film. But he wants all the films restored and delivered to him latest by 27 March.

The reason: the producer-director intends to host a retrospective of 11 of his films including the Munnabhai series and 3 Idiots in April.