Osian's Auction Catalogue The Greatest Indian Show On Earth | September 2014

By its very nature a film is made to be seen and film-makers go to great lengths to publicize their works. A film’s release is announced through printed publicity material in the form of film posters, photographic stills, handbills, song booklets, hoardings, show cards, glass slides and lobby cards among other memorabilia. These publicity materials are artworks in their own right and offer fascinating insights into the evolution of design in India and the world over. Relative to cinemas anywhere in the world, India has without a doubt the most ardent of cinema watchers. This fervor is still to extend to the artifacts that collectively narrate the story of Indian Cinema, even today, as she has now turned one hundred years old. Scholarly and comprehensive writing on Indian cinema which captures the public imagination is still blowing in the wind. Despite many efforts the required excitement and respect for our cinematic heritage is missing. The histories written thus far, utilizing a relatively poor historical research base, are genuine attempts but even collectively offer mere fragments. Much remains to be told, with countless narratives still to be written. It is therefore the film publicity materials and memorabilia that does, and will in times to come, provide the crucial historic reference and base. Given the above, it becomes doubly essential to value and preserve these fragile paper based artworks as testimony of our century old cinematic culture. These artifacts are second only to the film itself and we are far behind Hollywood and the film lovers of the West in recognizing the intrinsic artistic, cultural, educational and overall archival value of these artworks. A handful of avid cineastes in India do hold private collections of Cinematic Artworks, however this tends to take the shape of hoarding and in this way, due care, storage and restoration of the artwork is often neglected. Through intense efforts over more than a decade, spearheaded by Neville Tuli’s obsession to build a great knowledge-base, Osian’s has been able to collect and salvage large parts of these significant secondary resources. No such archive exists to date in which memorabilia, books, films and related documents are systematically preserved to be shared on a daily basis, while integrating itself with the other fine and popular arts. Over 20 years of archiving & research pertaining to this vast heritage will soon be fully accessible to the public with the first non-beta version of www. osianama.com in the coming weeks (the 1st beta version was launched on 15th August 2013). The Poster As a mass communicator a cinema poster is a unique artistic product which attempts to convey the essence of an entire narrative through a single image. It also stands out distinctly against the conventional advertising displays that may surround it. Vintage posters are issued on the occasion of the first release or a re-release of the film. The first edition release may have as many as four original images (Lots 51 Paying Guest, Lot 90 Love In Tokyo) from which images would be chosen for the re- release posters. Originals are identified from the quality of artwork on the poster, the quality of paper printed upon, the age of the paper, the symbol of the film studio (banner, production company) as it ages, as well as by comparing imagery with that of the song synopsis booklet of the same film. A re-release poster is issued when the original print run is exhausted and possibly when a film shifts to smaller theatres in a city or to smaller towns in India. Re-release posters are also issued to market a popular film which is re-launched in theatres after a span of some years (Lot 24a, 24b Barsaat; Lot 79a Pyaasa). A poster may also be re-released when a film travels from the north to the south of India, and so a different version of the design is issued. A poster also inherently conveys the changes in printing technology from the hand-painted to the photographic to the present day digital variety. Hand-painted posters were executed in either the large or small format, however in more recent years the small format (Lots 35 Mera Naam Joker, 89 Sangam) has been largely done away with and are no longer printed in this size. The Show Card A show card is a publicity item which is usually a collage of painted imagery and photographic cut-outs pasted on to a cardboard base. These were also created in sets, usually of six to eight cards, and meant to be displayed in cinema lobbies. Usually, 20 inches x 30 inches in size, show cards complement the film’s poster and lobby card by incorporating the best of both. These are most unique of all publicity memorabilia as each show card is an original artwork in itself, each card hand-painted and created by the artist. This variety of publicity memorabilia is no longer made (Lots 59 Amir Garib, 75 Kohinoor). AN INTRODUCTION TO COLLECTION BUILDING OF INDIAN FILM PUBLICITY MEMORABILIA Aditi Mittal, Senior Archivist – Osian’s C.A.R.D. / Centre for Archiving, Research and Development