Collecting Bollywood Movie Posters

Few countries are as endeared to their movies as India, whose film output over the decades have rivaled their American counterpart in any given year. The Indian moviemaking industry that began in Bombay in the 1930s has seen several classic genres emerge since then, with the historical epic, the curry western, the courtesan film, and the mythological movie accounting for most box-office successes. Standard features of Bollywood films typically include formulaic story lines, expertly choreographed fight scenes, spectacular song-and-dance routines, and emotion-charged melodrama, replete with larger-than-life heroes, love triangles, comedy, and daredevil thrills.

The posters that represented these films were designed to provide the viewer with its basic overall sense through representative images; thus, most had four to five various posters, each depicting a different thematic interpretation of the film. Because of the unique demographics of Indian moviegoers, the poster art was communicative with a distinctive style and were usually printed in English, Hindi, and Urdu. Generally, they relied on as little text as possible, focusing instead on dynamic images utilizing dynamic color.

Over time, techniques in designs have changed—in the 1970’s, Diwakar Karkare, perhaps India’s greatest contemporary poster designer, painted over photographic stills with a knife, creating the rough “fake oil paintings” look that has become synonymous with posters of this era. This was followed by a period when the movie industry adopted what they popularly referred to as the “cut and paste” method where photographic images of the film were cut out and compositionally arranged to create the final poster. The color scheme for the background and other embellishments were added with the paintbrush. Since many of the designers now joining the film industry have with a background in corporate advertising, the posters are reflective of the new commercialization and consumption that is emerging parallel with the country’s rapid globalization.

Initially overlooked as an art form because of its direct relationship to commercial networks of publicity, today the gradual disappearance of the traditional poster from the streets and public places where it had traditionally found a home has made it a more respectable item to be collected. Unfortunately, because of their vulnerability due to India's high humidity and the often-poor quality of the paper used, many posters begin to deteriorate after only 10 or 15 years; after sixty or seventy years, they can crumble into dust when touched. Today, many older original posters are cleaned, deacidified, treated with an alkaline buffer, and backed with a more resilient paper before being put up for sale.

For nostalgic Indian film buffs and art collectors, the hand-painted posters are increasingly being purchased and enjoyed as highly coveted folk art; in fact, they have been the subject of art exhibits in New Delhi, London, and, most recently, in Milan. On average, most Bollywood posters are selling in the $20 - $100 USD range, although collectors are paying many more times that for a hand-painted poster of Mother India and other classic Bollywood films. Those designed by D. R. Bhosle for the popular 1965 Hindi film Guide can fetch nearly $2,000.

Regardless if paying a few dollars or a few thousand for vintage Bollywood movie posters, when matted and framed they can provide a colorful, nostalgic, and inexpensive décor to the cinema fan’s home or office.