National Film Archives of India
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
Posters of Indian feature films
NFAI acquires 2,500 posters
Swati Mathur, Archives body acquires 2,500 Indian film posters, August 6, 2017: The Times of India
In one of its biggest acquisition in recent years, the National Film Archives of India has acquired nearly 2,500 posters of Indian feature films, including a rare 50sq feet hand-painted poster of K Asif 's 1960 classic `Mughal-e-Azam'.
NFAI's collection in cludes about 1,500 film posters of Hindi films and nearly 1,000 posters of Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam films from 1942 onwards and showcasing how films have been publicised over the years, covering various techniques of poster-making.
The highlight of the acquisition is the rare six-sheet poster of Mughal-e-Azam, which NFAI has acquired from independent collector Suresh Khaitan, earlier in August. The poster comprises six separate sheets and measures 10ft by 5ft. NFAI said it is an offset print of a hand-painted poster and, because of its giant size, is able to show great details of the film, including scenes. “The poster has everything--from long-shot depictions of the war se quence, to a colourful snapshot of the sheesh mahal sequence, all done in beautiful brushstrokes,“ an NFAI official said. The poster also features two intimate portraits; Emperor Akbar, enacted by Prithviraj Kapoor, shedding a tear in an emotional scene when his son and heir Salim, actor Dilip Kumar, is preparing to go to war. There is also a portrait of Madhubala as Anarkali, tied in chains, one of the most iconic images of Hindi cinema.
“This has been a significant addition to NFAI's ever-growing collection of film-related ,“ said Prakash Magdum, NFAI director.Among others, NFAI has acquired film posters of 90 Amitabh Bachchan films, including one of his earliest, Sanjog (1971), and the unreleased Zamaanat.
