Cinema ghar...the words spelt magic at a time. For it was the house of dreams, the medium of entertainment and a giant canvas for the amazing art of storytelling. The magic that has gone on for more than a 100 years has now trickled down to the palm of your hand. But can smart trailers and snazzy teasers ever crest the excitement of film posters, which were at one time the only peek at things to come?
The Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts recently published a book called the Poster Speaks. Author Iqbal Rizvi has tried to retrieve all details about the various aspects of poster-making and encloses the oldest poster of Kalyan Khajin (1924). This was created by Baburao Painter.
Posters were the first information gateway about films. Adding more and more people to this information used to be the responsibility of the poster artist, due to which the use of gaudy and contrast colours elevated it to a different art form. But it was unfortunate that film posters never got the status of art in India.
The tradition of producing film posters by hand has existed for nearly 80 years but there is a lack of serious writing on this subject. This can, therefore, be called the first book of its kind in Hindi. It reveals how great efforts were made by actors, writers and lyricists about publishing their name in the posters and in what sequence. There is also a chapter which talks about posters and their makers’ run-in with the censors. Did you know that at one time the Centre had to form a study committee to investigate claims of pornography in the film poster? For nearly 80 years, the world of posters continued to flourish. Till the man-made art fell to the digital revolution.