A brief history of Indian films posters
Bollywood represents the Indian film industry and there is no doubt about it. Every Indian state has some form of an industry dedicated to films but none can even come close to the success rate, budget and artistic prowess of Bollywood.
With that stated and out of the way, it is time to dive deep into the world of stunning imagery that has been portrayed in posters of Bollywood films since the advent of Indian cinema which was in 1913 in the form of a feature-length silent film bearing the name of Raja Harishchandra. It was produced and directed by Dadasaheb Phalke.
The following sections and this post, in general, will pay homage to the amazing history of Indian film posters in brief.
Here goes –
The fascination is undying among new-age poster designers
Film poster designers in India areoften passionate collectors of hand-painted film posters. Furthermore, film buffs, film production students and interns often pay frequent visits to countless galleries and museums scattered all over India that are dedicated to the works of poster designers from the golden age of Indian cinema.
New-age poster designers in India showcase the vibrant use of colors and bold typography that were common in the hand-painted posters back in the 40s – 70s era of Indian cinema.
Poster designers were innovators and self-taught back in the day
These days, expert graphic designers in Mumbai associated with Bollywood are talented but they attain those talents through rigorous training from institutions that offer courses on the same.
Back in the day, the scenario was completely different. All film artwork experts in India working for Bollywood and the Indian film industry, in general, were self-taught masters of key artwork.
All posters back in the day were painted by hand. Legendary film poster designers gave meaning to key art elements like standees, posters and billboard displays dedicated to the film in question using their raw talent and imagination.
Film poster designers of the bygone era were masters of paintbrush strokes and sketching. Film poster artists in India, back in those days, tried their best to minimize mistakes as resources and time were both limited.
They tried their best to capture the tone and mood of the film they are developing the key art for by placing the leading characters of the film in a manner that tried to tell a short story to the onlookers without revealing too much about the plot.
Expert graphic designers in Mumbai associated with Bollywood point out that the predominant use of pink and red hues to represent the protagonist and blue or grey hues to represent the antagonists is a technique that is still used in this day and age!
Some amazing hand-painted posters from the days gone by
There were many key artwork experts back in the day who attained legendary status for their artistic finesse. It is one of the many reasons why the key art of revered films holds cult status these days.
Examples of some of the best key art from the bygone era are as follows –
Kalyan Khajina
Source – https://artdesignasia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/kalyankhajina.jpg
The above is the perfect example of early Bollywood film posters.
It is the key art for a 1924 Marathi film bearing the title Kalyan Khajina. The film beautifully portrays the story of emperor Shivaji when he meets Subedar of Kalyan and later discovers Sultana – who was emerging from a treasure crate.
The film was directed by Barubao and it is believed that he was the key art designer for the above poster as well.
Sant Sakhu
Source – https://artdesignasia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/sant-sakhu-752×1024.jpg
The above key art is for the 1941 Sant Sakhu. It was directed by Vishnupant Govind Damle, Raja nene and Sheikh Fattelal. The key art is the work of Ravi Verma. Ravi Verma is considered to be one of the best key art designers of his era.
Mother India
Source – https://artdesignasia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/mother-india.jpg
The above key art is considered to be the most legendary. The cinema itself has a cult status among cinephiles. Mother India is a mixed-genre film that has bits of drama, art and romance. The film was directed by Mehboob Khan. It came out in 1957 and was a multi-starrer film as it cast Raj Kumar, Nargis and Sunil Dutt in lead roles.
The key art was hand-painted by B. M Gupta. B.M Gupta was the creator of hundreds of iconic film posters during his era but according to experts, the above artwork is considered to be in the ‘legendary’ category.
One should note the fact that the above artwork is a permanent exhibit in the Mumbai Film Museum!
It all came to an end in the 70s
Bollywood film poster designing continued to be a manual and labour-intensive affair till the 1970s. It all came to an end when the less labour-intensive ‘cut and paste’ technique became popular.
The cut and paste technique is nothing but cutting up portraits of leading actors and pasting them on a hand-painted background. This led to the degradation of artistic finesse in Bollywood film posters but was much favored as it was cost-efficient and needed less time to complete.
Conclusion
Bollywood posters still play an important role in this day and age of OTT releases. Sure the old methods have been replaced but according to Hitesh Sharma of Hitesh Art – a reputed provider of film poster design services in Mumbai, film posters were and always will be iconic as key art like one-sheet posters, standees and digital theatrical posters play the important role of promoting a film. Film poster designers in India these days might use modern tools and techniques but these talented individuals still draw inspiration from the iconic works of film poster designers of the bygone era.