The pay for the strugglers and thosewhose work was average really was notworth it. One also had to multi-task onthe day before the release by ensuringthat the bill-board or canvas hoardingwas properly fixed on the frame. Sweat-laden clothes, a headache from the stinkfrom the paints and gnarled hands atthe end of the day was routine. Yet, theyproduced that unforgettable visualrazzmatazz, which turned Bombay ofyore into the Mecca for making Hindifilms.

Itwas not that the

poster artists coulddemand a remuneration of

their choice for their works. Thepayment in the earlier days

naturally was in annas, the cur-rency in vogue then. In 1970, new-comers would be paid Rs 2.50 perday, as artist Lucas Mondal (who is

60 years old now) recalls today.Stalwarts who had their own Art &Design Studio would commandtheir own price from the bigproducers, who would pay

up without a murmur.

LLOOWW CCOOSSTT,, HHIIGGHH IIMMPPAACCTT

Invariably it is thelabourer who is

paid the most in anunorganized sector. Itis a similar storyabout the nowextinct community ofposter artists. In 170,the pay would be asmeager as Rs 2.50per day, for a new-comer, who wouldhave no recourse forbargaining.

However,as the artist'sreputationspread, hecould negoti-ate the terms.The paymentthen wouldfigure arounda certain sumfor paintingone squarefoot of thecanvas.

Poster work, for a good artist,would be regular and with re-

releases and box-office records orawards, the posters would have to bere-done. Other sources of income,were cutouts during premiers of bigbanners and also during politicalcampaigns.

But the cream of the artists,like Diwakar Karkare was

known to command a price of Rs50,000 per poster during the sev-enties - quite a big amount then.

1 2 3

4

In 1970, artists werepaid `̀ 2.50 per day!

The 7-Star ArtistsCCOONNTT IINNUU IINNGG WW IITTHH OOUURR SSEERR IIEESS OONN 110000 YYEEAARRSS OOFF IINNDD IIAANN CC IINNEEMMAAEVERY SUNDAY, WE PRESENT TO YOU THAT LOST AND EXTINCT TRIBE OF STREET-SMART VISUALIZERS, WHOSE WORK OF STREET ART COMPELLED YOU TO MOVE INTO A FANTASY GARAGE, WHICHWAS ALL YOURS FOR THREE-LONG HOURS. LOKMAT TIMES CRAWLED THROUGH THE BYLANES OF MUMBAI TO TRACE THE LIVES AND TIMES OF CINEMA POSTER PAINTERS,WHOSE PASSION WAS TO BREATHE LIFE INTO STORIES AND ACTORS.

They were the magnetswhich pulled you intoa world far away fromthe real world – but for

the creators of these magnets,aka hand-painted film posters, itwas the happy ending to hoursof stoic endurance of the stinkof death! In India, in the earlythirties, movie poster artists hadto rely on a variety of naturalproducts to produce paints oftheir liking and suitable for theirart. They would use crushed cat-tle bone-powder as the base fortheir paints, along with locallyavailable natural colours, allmixed with linseed oil. Theirwork of art, therefore, was apainful and routine journey, onewhich not only released the cre-ativity in them, but was also aconstant reminder of the odourof death. Thus were born thesecanvases of hope, dreams andfantasies.

This must be quite a dullmoment, for young readers (andspecially those who are hookedto their like-minded brethrendigitally). Folks, this is nostal-gia, deeply tinted in sepia. And,yes, this too was much beforethe times of your parents aswell!

Flashback to 1924 and the cityof Bombay – it is twelve yearssince the first Indian movie,Raja Harishchandra, stunned,enthralled, wowed India.Followed by Alam Ara.Skipping the chronologicalorder, we move to 1924, whenanother film, not quite well-known, called Kalyan Khajinahit the screens modestly, butwith a new twist. The film’sadvent was a first for the filmproduction business. Themethod of communication wasnew and novel – hand-paintedposters used as publicity for amovie.

Every week now saw this busytribe of artists perched on lad-ders in crowded markets creat-ing either a poster or a canvasboard to advertise yet anothernew film. In fact, this led to anew gawk culture, with tea stallsringing up better and better salesas film-crazy audiences took tosuch spot-pilgrimages andplanned their week accordingly.

Did the art evolve or did themethod of communication provesuccessful? Whatever it mayhave been, but producers wentcrazy as did the audiences. Thefriendly and frenzied jostle out-side cinema theatres to stare atthe posters was just the stuffwhich translated into steadymoolah to boot for the produc-er/distributor.

Kitschy? Bohemian? It mat-tered the least as broad visiblebrush strokes with a strikingarray of colors and typographybrought alive the key premise ofthe film or the aura of that actoror actress. A new economy wasborn. Artists, painters, assis-tants, paint-makers, calligra-phers, brush-suppliers, poster-stickers, carpenters, unskilledlabourers who would be braveenough to raise canvas hoard-ings on frames on the top of thetheatres… Yes, Bombay onceagain proved that no matterwhat, one never went hungry onits streets. Something or theother new would crop up toensure that you could have atleast one meal during the day.

Who then were artists? PanditRamkumar Sharma, RahataliGala, Diwakar Karkare… theseare the few names which ourbrief trawl has thrown up. Ohyes, mark down one MaqboolFida Husain as well. These

frankly are those notables whichtoday’s fickle memory-banksamong the silver-haired filmproducers have thrown up dur-ing recent conversations.

Now, quite logically, the posterthemes themselves faithfullyfollowed the social order of thatdecade. The film producer had

to predictably follow the pulseof the society. First came reli-gious and moralising films. Theposter artists faithfully followedthese themes. Women were notin the limelight and thereforeposters for quite some yearswere male-dominated. Socially-relevant movies were slowlyfollowed by hesitantly-romanticones.

The romantic theme then blos-somed fully and couples beganfeaturing in the posters. Camethe era of drama, action andcomedy films, and it was cre-ative revolution at its best.

But trouble was lurkingaround. The film producer, themaster puppeteer of this game,was aping the west and countinghis rupees too.

The method for mass produc-tion of film posters was simpleenough. The artist would bebriefed by the producer, given acopy of the storyline with adeadline for producing the

poster. The poster, normallysquarish or vertical in size (butbecame horizontal for big ban-ners like Mother India,Mughal-e-Azam etc), wouldfirst be painted on canvas, withpaints in vogue.

Once done, the approvedposter would be taken to the stu-dio premises and mounted on atripod outdoors in good day-light. It would then be pho-tographed with a conventionalstill camera. The result wouldthen end up in the lithographypress for mass printing.

Lithography was invented in1796 by Bavarian author AloisSenefelder as a cheap method ofpublishing theatrical works, toprint text or artwork onto paperor other suitable material. Tillthe fifties, movie posters werecommonly printed via litho-graph. It then gave way to offsetprinting up until the late eight-ies. The seeds of the death ofthis tribe were sown sometimein the early seventies.Photography methods and print-ing techniques were nowbecome cheaper and commer-cially available. This led to thebirth of the still photographer,whose presence became a mustfor film sets, be they in studiosor on outdoor locations. Passiveproducers now became activeduring endless sessions, with orwithout liquid intakes, when thestill photos would be laid out ontheir desks and they wouldchoose and approve the “rightones”. Ergo, it was now the eraof ‘cut-and-paste’! A simple

enough technique and, quite ashort-cut with that move.

Another innovation, whichhappened because of this, wasthe birth of the bright photo-window displays. Many asamosa was lost and drinksspilled as audiences would pourinto the theatres after being letin and head straight for this dis-plays and point out excitedly asthey saw their favourites in onescene and more.

(Raghavendra K Nwith inputs by

Hinesh Jethwani andShreesha Wagle)

PPUUBBLLIICCIITTYY WWAALLLLSSOnce printed, the posters were hand-ed over to movie publicity agenciesas well as distributors and cinematheaters. These prints, running intothousands, would make their way tothe viable territories and stuck onevery available inch of public wallspace! This trend abated in the lateseventies when restrictions on out-door advertising and no-bill zoneson walls started coming into place.

TTHHEE SSUUCCCCEESSSS PPOOSSTTEERRSSLocal distributors and theatre-ownerswould collude and design their own re-release movie posters to to announcethe awards won or the number of weeksit has been running. Characters whoassumed popularity, after the releaseand a good run, would now feature onsuch posters. This was a clever move tofill in the cinema theatres once againand their own coffers as well!

IICCOONNIICC SSTTRROOKKEESSThe vivid use of colours on the hand-painted posterscaptured the shades of characters and reflected theintensity and drama behind the scenes they represent-ed. Many artists used specific colours to portray nega-tive or positive shades of characters (green for evil andred signifying anger or revenge). In the sixties and sev-enties, huge hand-painted billboards and cutouts out-side theater were an unforgettable visual treat. The def-inition of movie poster art was now beyond mere pub-licity – it was now a cultural icon.

SUNDAY 20 | MAY 2012 | NAGPUR PAGE 2

www.epaper.lokmat.com/lokmattimes/

Lokmat Times

100yearsindiancinemaof

TThheeyy hhaadd cchhoosseenn tthhiiss ffoorr ppaassssiioonnaanndd ssoommee sstteeaaddyy iinnccoommee.. Hindifilmdom, though, has its vintagetales about the works of a chosenfew, who would simply state afigure, which would be meeklyaccepted by the producer. Onesuch instance is about DiwakarKarkare, who ran the famousStudio Diwakar in CentralBombay, and was known tocharge Rs 50,000 for a singleassignment in his heydays of theseventies. When handed theassignment for Satyam, Shivam,Sundaram in the late seventies,Diwakar is reputed to have toldthe legendary Raj Kapoor to leavethe theme to him and not botherabout it at all! Raj Kapoor didn'tblink an eyelid and just noddedhis acceptance!

FFRROOMM WWAALLLLSS TTOO HHOOMMEESS::Vintage Bollywood movie posters todayserve as a subject of much curiosity forart lovers, historians, vintage & antiquecollectors, movie poster aficionados,interior decorators and premise owners.A fascinating journey over the years -from gracing walls outside cinemahouses, barber shops, railway stationsto spot-lit places in chic modernhomes today.

TThhee nniinneettiieess wweerree bboorrnn wwiitthh tthhee ggiiffttooff ffllaawwlleessss ddiiggiittaall pprriinnttiinngg.. Whilenewsprint survived its utility, can-vas was totally out, and flex was inand how. Those who ironically hadread the writing on the wall hadreturned back to their villages.Those still in love with Bombay,now Mumbai, stayed back, withsome working as security guards oras a driver for a different life...

TThheerree wweerree nnoo sshhoouuttss ffoorr““ccuutt,, eenndd sseeqquueennccee aanndd ppaacckkuupp!!”” Just that slow fadeout,which began two decadesback. The retinal revolutionhas completed a full circle,thanks to computerizationand digital printing. Thehuman element was a must-discard from the publicitydepartment at least.

In the early 90s, the creativederivative was now an irritantfor the film producer. The exactwas the ticket to success and thebox-office crown. It was RIP forthe Sharmas, Karkares, Galasand Husains. Slam.

A new economy wasborn. Artists, painters,assistants, paint-makers, calligraphers,brush-suppliers,carpenters, unskilledlabourers… Yes,Bombay once againproved that no matterwhat, one never wenthungry on its streets!

The seeds of the death of this tribe were sown sometime in theearly seventies. Photography methods and printing techniqueswere now become cheaper and commercially available.

Families of at least 50 persons would earn their livelihood from one hand-paintedmovie poster. It was not just the effort by artists like us. At the end of the day,painters, their assistants, artists, calligraphers, carpenters, their assistants, unskilledheavy work labourers were part of the team. For 40 long years, the film industry wastheir bread. Better printing and photography techniques in the eighties and the entryof digital printing sounded the death-knell for this wonderful tribe of Bombay, nowMumbai. – Haidar Gala, son of late Rahatali Gala, both artists-painters of movie posters

Images courtesy :Indian Hippy

MMOOVVIIEESS AARREE AALLSSOO MMAADDEE OOFF TTHHEESSEE.. .. ..

Text: HineshJethwani

L ucas Mondal was only 14 years oldwhen he ran away from his relative'shouse in Kanpur and landed in

Bombay in 1970. But the city of dreams was-n't particularly kind to the teenager and hestruggled before landing a billboard paintingjob.

"I was fond of drawing even as a child. Sowhen I attended a workshop on hand paintingboards, my billboard painting career took off,"he said.

Initially limited to only letterings, Mondal'sexpertise soon became polished to include fig-ures and invariably - Hindi film posters.

"I was painting all kinds of things: banners,posters, billboards, hoardings. In the begin-ning, I earned only Rs 2.50 per day and a plateof rice back then cost Rs 1.50," Mondallaughs.

From there, he went on to earn almost Rs40,000 per month when advertising becamethe buzzword in the '80s and hoardings pro-moting all kinds of products started dotting thehorizon. The '90s arrived, Bombay becameMumbai and in came the era of digital print-ing. "And with that, our source of livelihoodcollapsed," Mondal reminisces.

Almost two decades later, a 31-year-old com-puter engineer with practically no experienceor proficiency in art, retail or product designstarted a collective that combines all three inan effort to save the dying art form of handpainted posters.

Hinesh Jethwani launched Indian Hippy in2009, a profitable business along with the fewremaining hand-painting poster artists.Challenges abound, first of finding the artistsout of their hideouts, then of convincing themof his new venture.

Mondal today heads a dozen-strong team ofartists. "We had all started doing odd jobs. Butnow we areback to doing what we love most," saysMondal. "Painting is our passion and we arepaid fairly for our efforts here."

SUNDAY 20 | MAY 2012 | AURANGABAD 14

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