Era Of Hindi Film Posters

Anupama Chopra in the Crest Edition:

(Hindi film) posters were hand-painted from photographs provided by the producers and then reproduced on paper. The size of an actor’s face on the poster directly reflected his prominence and stardom. Diwakar Karkare, who dominated poster design for three decades, recalls a leading villain offering a bribe of Rs. 25,000 to make his face bigger.


The era of hand-painted Hindi film posters has gone leaving some anecdotes behind. Stories like this often stoke up nostalgia and make us laugh, recalling scenes from old movies. Those were the days when even frivolity was considered seriousness. The self-mockery, as we construe it today, was the key to success.

PS: While reading Chetan Bhagat's tweets, a sugesstion for him caught up my mind. Why don't Bhagat pay movie posters makers and get his name written on them in BOLD

Politics And Bollywood

Bollywood’s tryst with politics is never ending. We have many bollywood personalities in politics and politics as a theme in movies.

The bollywood replicate social changes in its movies, while politics actually mean transformation.

Yet, looking their rise since 70s, a realization comes through that our film industry has grown up but politics hasn’t.

The masala movies of 70s and 80s, their unforgettable dialogues, the acting - often seen as self-mocking – we have gone through it. Many holdover stars from the last two decades of last century play parental roles now. These stars along with the new breed exemplify that they are with the time.

Mere pass maa hai aur tumhare pass… the famous dialogue and many such are a grim reminder of those times.

And perhaps for the same reasons, we in 2009 can’t sit three hours watching those movies again. Except for the ever-melodious songs, watching movies from 70s and 80 is actually a pain.

Contrary in Politics, the triviality is yet to be bottomed out. We are currently through elections and what better time than this to check this.

Two weeks back I was at Uddhav’s (mind you, I consider Uddhav the only sane personality among Thackerays) rally. “Congress mhanaje hiarave daat, te kadhihi jawal gheu naka” (congress means the green teeth, never allow them near you), Uaddhav made this horrible comment, forcing me wink at my colleague. The worst- it drew huge clap in the crowd.

These politicians speak same language as they act in. Their success lies in their frivolousness. And this triviality disallows them from moving ahead.

In the case of movies, people accept only contemporary ones.

And that is why we have films changing with the time while politics continue to hold same masala as it did in 70s and 80s.