Bollywood stars' rare photos have been put on display at Doon library to mark successful century of Indian cinema. Collected by an ardent fan, the anthology is a flashback of Hindi cinema's journey full of several pleasant and unpleasant phases.
Manoj Panjani (the fan), who also carried out a study on work of Bollywood's unsung heroes, who work behind the screen, travelled several times to Mumbai to gather rare pictures of the stars and shootings of various films. The exhibition displays a rare of the rarest picture that portrays Sridevi and Madhuri Dixit together. Similarly, the exhibition displays posters of several unreleased films like Shinakht and Aukat.
It also showcased a big picture of Babu Bhai Mistry, the man who gave new dimension to special effects in Hindi movie. In the decade of 50s and 60s, he epitomised special effects in the cinema. He was known as shahanshah of special effects among the producers and directors.
Depicting Ramesh Sippy in company of SM Anwar, on the sets of Hindi flick Sagar revealed the kind of sets was made for the shooting in the yesteryears. Shooting stills of Prem Pujari and Johny Mera Naam had revived the flash back memories of evergreen star Devanand, who ruled hearts of cinema lovers for almost five decades.
Stills of yesteryear female superstar Madhubala starrer Daulat and Amitabh Bachchan starrer Ram Balram are also part of the exhibition. A picture revealed the crucial role of mixing maestro Mangesh Desai in making Upkar, a great hit in the late sixties and seventies.
A picture of legendry singer lata Mangeshkar with leading musicians of the past is also part of the exhibition. Simultaneously, stills of Nana Patekar in company of Naseeruddin Shah, Shooting of Heera aur Panna in Hong Kong, veteran art director Shanti Daas, gave glimpse of past journey of Hindi cinema.
Panjani is delighted over success of Hindi Cinema. He has great respect for Hindi cinema since it gave a tough challenge to Hollywood. ‘Hollywood started making movies in Hindi just because of challenge by Hindi cinema. It (Hollywood) got such tough challenge from any other cinema in the world,’ Panjani claimed.
Throwing light on Hindi cinema's journey, he said, ‘The Hindi cinema grew because it focused on improvement of sound, techniques, background music and special effects. Simultaneously, the producers took risk of making off beat films based on the stories of well known writers.’
Panjani said inspite of ups and down, the Hindi cinema flourished well and earned laurels at international platforms on several occasions. ‘It is evident of the fact that Hindi cinema is growing well,’ Panjani said. He said that the exhibition was his bit to celebrate the 100 years success of Hindi cinema that was result of hard work by the stars and technicians remained behind the screen.
He travelled to Mumbai where he purchased magazines from junk dealers and the traders who deal in old magazines. Some of the pictures, he managed from his friends in film industry.