It is perhaps the earliest in the genre of war films in India to leave a major impact, vividly capturing not only the horrors of war but also the loneliness of the soldier on the hostile borders.

Chetan Anand's 'Haqeeqat', considered one of the best war films made in the history of Indian cinema for its remarkable use of technology and grit to depict the situation of the Indian soldiers fighting the Chinese army under hostile conditions on the borders, is being colourised, ten years after the death of its maker Chetan Anand, at the age of 82 on July 6, 1997.

This was revealed by Ketan Anand, son of Chetan Anand and a filmmaker in his own right, during a question-answer session on Friday night after the screening of his film 'Chetan Anand - The Poetics of Film', a docu-drama about the contribution of the legendary filmmaker to the Hindi film industry.

In reply to a question, Ketan Anand said,'' the war film is being 'colourised' as a tribute to my father who at that time had shown rare grit in shooting a film in Ladakh. Though colour cinema had come into the country, my father had been of the opinion that a subject of this nature should be shot in black and white.''

Ketan said one of the reasons for colourisation of 'Haqeeqat', close on heels of that of yesteryears' classic 'Naya Daur' was to showcase to the modern generation what he felt was one of the best examples of an original piece of cinema as against the plethora of "cheap Hollywood rip-offs" being released in theatres nowadays.

''The younger generation today does not want to see films in black and white.

The purpose of colourising 'Haqeeqat' is to expose them to this kind of cinema rather than the kind of cinema they are exposed to now wherein somebody is just copying something from the west, he said soon after the screening of 'Chetan Anand - The Poetics of Film', a docu-drama written by him in collaboration with his mother Uma Anand, a writer and actress herself.

The Associate Producer of this film produced under the banner of Himalaya Films is Vani Tripathi. Both Uma Anand and Vani were present at the screening along with veteran actor Zohra Sehgal, noted film critic Amita Malik; childhood friend Romesh Chander who was the first head of Doordarshan; and renowned artist and brother-in-law Krishan Khanna.

Also released on the occasion was the book 'Chetan Anand - The Poetics of Film', which analyses his work in films and his craft.

Penned jointly by Uma Anand and Ketan Anand, the 160-page book is a nostalgic biography of the filmmaker, vividly brought to life with telling photographs.

The book is in two parts: the first by Uma Anand, relating his background and the events that shaped his life and work, and the second by Ketan Anand who worked with his father and his two uncles Dev Anand and Vijay Anand (also known as 'Goldie') before branching out on his own.

Ketan said efforts to colourise 'Haqeeqat' had been on since the last few months.

''The whole process of colourisation will take about eight to nine months after which the film will be re-released in colour,''he said.

Made in the backdrop of the 1962 Indo-China war, 'Haqeeqat' infused a surge of patriotism in the country while brilliantly depicting the horrors of war through its vivid and moving scenes of Indian soldiers fighting the Chinese army under horrible conditions on the border.