Film historian and archivist SMM Ausaja unveils the unknown stories behind posters – the hand-painted posters, the rare posters that have been restored, the difference between original and re-release posters and more…!
Film posters have a history as rich and colourful as films themselves.
Since the silent era till today, film posters have undergone many a transformation – from hand-painted to screen-printed and now digitized.
Some rare hand-painted Hindi film posters
Only Hrishikesh Mukherjee had the guts to put Om Prakash bigger than Dharmendra and Amitabh Bachchan on the poster, in the year of Sholay, and yet deliver a hit!!
Ace director Hrishikesh Mukherjee edited Coolie! Its the only association of him and Manmohan Desai.
Hand painted poster of Naaz, made entirely in brush-strokes
Unveiling the poster of the second Dilip Kumar-Madhubala film, Sangdil (1952).
Kaajal is adapted from Gulshan Nanda’s novel “Maadhavi” by Phani Majumdar with Kidar Sharma writing the dialogues
My latest acquisition… A stunning Diwakar Karkare portrait of the queen of tragedy
The hero of Nek Dil was Pran, who became one of the top villains of Bollywood!
One of the finest posters of its time, the Arzoo designed by the legendary Diwakar Karkare.
Us mulk kis sarhad ko koi chhu nahi sakta,
Jis Mulk ki sarhad ki Nigehbaan hain aankhen…
Films, when released had multiple posters, each poster expressing a highlight of the movie. Usually, the initial release posters would feature the lead actors prominently.
Multiple posters of the same film
Original poster of Bemisaal featuring the love triangle – Amitabh Bachchan, Raakhee and Vinod Mehra
Pic courtesy SMM Ausaja‘s film memorabli
Original poster of Bemisaal – Notice the expressions of Amitabh Bachchan, the young ethical and scrupulous doctor who gives up his own career and takes the blame of his friend’s fatal mistake on his shoulders to save him from disgrace.
Pic courtesy SMM Ausaja‘s film memorablia
Original Deewar poster features the two sons – Amitabh Bachchan in prominence along with Shashi Kapoor, the mother Nirupa Roy and the female leads Neetu Singh and Parveen Babi
Pic courtesy SMM Ausaja‘s film memorablia
Original Deewar poster featuring the two brothers Vijay and Ravi at war
Pic courtesy SMM Ausaja‘s film memorablia
Original poster of Aradhana (Hindi) featuring the lead pair Sharmila Tagore and Rajesh Khanna
Pic courtesy SMM Ausaja‘s film memorabilia
Original poster of Aradhana (Bengali), featuring Sharmila Tagore as the mother whose only worship (or aradhana) is to ensure a healthy upbringing for her child.
Pic courtesy SMM Ausaja‘s film memorabilia
Original posters and re-release posters are different
There is a marked difference between original posters and re-release posters. The reason for this is the original posters carried the thoughts and imagination of the filmmakers.
When the film would be ready for its initial release, usually the director would give a set of movie stills that he wanted highlighted in the posters to the artists who would then create the hand-painted posters as a sort of artistic representation of the movie stills.
Once the film was released and had completed its run in the theaters, the posters were sold off in junk. This is the reason why 70% of original film posters have perished. Of the surviving 30%, about 20% is with organized archives and about 10% with private collectors.
Sometime after its release, may be a year or two, the distributor of the film would decide to re-release the film again, especially if it was a hit.
For the re-release, the posters were printed again, since the original ones had not been preserved.
However, this time the posters would carry the vision of the distributor and not the artistry of the filmmaker. Hence, you will find the re-release posters markedly different from the original. These would be cheap quality with tacky production values.
Sharp difference between original and re-release posters
Its funny how distributors alter the size of a star on the film posters depending on his popularity, when they re-release the film: In these films Amitabh Bachchan had a ‘Special Appearance’ and yet see what they did to the posters!
Posters that are rare and old of antique value sometimes need to be restored as they are worn due to lack of proper preservation.
Such old and rare posters are often cracking at folds and the paper has many holes and marks. These are removed digitally without compromising on aesthetics.
Some digitally restored rare posters
A rare poster of not-so-known movie, Bambai Ki Billi.
Pic courtesy SMM Ausaja‘s film memorabilia
Nalini Jaywant in Danka – original rare poster digitally restored
Pic courtesy SMM Ausaja‘s film memorabilia
The restored poster of Sardar (1955), a very rare artwork,
Pic courtesy SMM Ausaja‘s film memorabilia
Original poster of Kamini Kaushal’s Chaalis Baba Ek Chor
Pic courtesy SMM Ausaja‘s film memorabilia
The magic of the seventies/eighties posters, the brush strokes and the nostalgia, is incomparable!
Pic courtesy SMM Ausaja‘s film memorabilia
Baaz, 1953 marked Guru Dutt’s debut as an actor and his second film as a director
Film historian, author and archivist of vintage film memorabilia SMM Ausaja is Senior Archivist (Cinema) at Tuli Research Centre for India Studies. Based in Mumbai, Ausaja has collected, preserved, archived and restored a phenomenal collection of posters, movie stills, song synopsis booklets, lobby cards, glass slides, post cards, LP records and other film memorabilia over the last three decades. He is the author of The Bachchans and Bollywood in Posters and has co-authored The Swinging 70's and Bollywood: The Films! The Songs! The Stars! He can be contacted on smmausaja@hotmail.com
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