[fully lost] Betaal Pachisi (1997) based on Lee Falk's Phantom.
NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH "BETAAL PACHISI" A MYTHOLOGICAL SHOW INVOLVING A KING AND A TRICKSTER SPIRIT's RIDDLES
I am looking for any surviving footage, episodes, or clips of Betaal Pachisi, a live-action superhero series that aired on India's DD Metro network in 1997. The show starred actor Shahbaz Khan as a localized adaptation of the famous Lee Falk's comic book hero, The Phantom.
It had 49 episodes. It was originally telecast in 1997. King features Syndicate sued the makers for copying the phantom but lost the case which allowed the show to continue for 49 episodes. The show's rights were purchased in 2000 by UTV (as a result it re-aired in 2005) which was later acquired by Disney India in 2018. Since then it has remained lost. Nobody seems to have any episodes. A lot of phans (myself included,) have gone crazy looking for it.
I have personally contacted the director, Sunil Agnihotri, who confirmed his production house no longer holds the master tapes. Because Disney India later acquired UTV, the official digital assets are locked away in corporate legal storage due to the old copyright strikes. We are desperately searching for home-recorded VHS or VCR television rips from either the 1997 DD Metro broadcast or the 2005 Hungama TV daily rerun. Any leads or archives would mean the world to the preservation community.
Please help people🙏🏻 😭