by Ekta Malik

The cine world has long held a glamour and attraction to itself. Drawing its followers from the plethora of audience from all classes, it remains the one dominant force of entertainment. The movies become iconic, the movie stars icons. They go on to become part of cultural folklore and memory. Anyone in India born in the sixties would have seen the films and then have made them part of their culture. The real world imitates the reel world. The general viewer wants a piece of the action that is being played on the 75 mm silver screen.

Initially movie posters were made and put up, to announce its release. This created a lot of curiosity and managed to bring the first lot of curious fans to the theatre. The poster was one of the most important things to create attraction and desire. The loud colours and the flamboyant design managed to evoke an interest.

A close up shot of Amitabh Bachchan in the film “Dewaar” wearing that blue shirt went on to be replicated by many of his fans. The image of the moth on the lips of Jodie Foster in the film poster of “Silence of the Lambs” is the way many people remember the film. The menacing picture of the shark in the poster of “Jaws”, Casablanca with Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman - all these posters went on to become part of public memory and recollection. Mother India - Nargis in that historic pose. Sholay. The list is endless.

Even today after availability of other forms of advertising media like television, radio and internet, the movie posters are still going strong and they are continued to be made with new and latest technologies. Apart from just serving as means of advertising, they have also now become collector’s item by avid film fans.
Ankita Chawla an avid film goer and film buff says, “I love collecting old film posters. They have such charm. When I buy a poster I feel that I am carrying some part of the film with me.” She has twenty film posters. And they have been collected from everywhere and also come at almost every price.

In all likelihood our rooms have a life like picture of our favourite movie star from our favourite movie. We own that piece of stardom. And this stardom is easily available for anyone to own. Right from the street hawkers at Janpath selling copies of these posters, each for 20 rupees to the designer boutiques of any up market mall – with them anybody can access this part of film history.

Vikas posterwallah sells posters of films, film stars in the inner circle of Connaught place, from the past seven years. “Every day I sell almost 5-6 posters. On weekends it is 10-15. The young people buy the new films, the older ones of old films. It’s good for my business. “

Film posters have changed through the years. They might not be hand painted anymore but printed on glossy papers with the latest technology. But they haven’t lost their appeal. They continue to entice the audience of the current movies, and people from all generation even when they are out of theatres.










Credit: Few photos of the posters are downloaded from copyright free sites of images.

Photos & Report by Ekta Malik

It could have been just any other dusty street in old Delhi, clogged with humanity. But it differs; it’s alive with literature and poetry still surviving in their original form. One can actually feel the words and couplets as you step in the Urdu bazaar of old Delhi. Its other claim to fame would be the Jama Masjid which looms majestically over this bustling locality.

Urdu bazaar situated opposite the Jama Masjid is one of the oldest places in Delhi where one can find all kinds of Urdu, Arabic and also Hindi books. This street is dotted with shops that specialise in Urdu, Arabic printing, and book binding. In this market one can still find lovers of the Urdu language, who come from everywhere to look for a book of their choice. The embossed books in gold and silver bound in cloth or some other variant draw people form far and wide. It is in this very market that those few places still exist, where Urdu and Arabic calligraphy is still practised.

The musty smell of yellowing paper. Some quills lie haphazardly on a table. An archaic inkpot placed next to them. Scraps of paper dot the floor. A fan creaks over head, as it circles reluctantly. An old photo copier remains unused in the corner gathering dust; it serves as a side table occasionally. Sitting outside this shop is “Qari sahib”, who has been practising calligraphy in the Urdu bazaar, for the past 40 years.

63 year old Qari Sahib, as he is universally addressed in the Urdu bazaar, came to Delhi from his hometown Muzaffarnagar in U.P. He is fluent in Arabic, Urdu and Persian, and Hindi. And also English he proudly proclaims. His white scraggily beard, his beady eyes reflect the wisdom of his 63 years of life. He recollects his days back in Muzaffarnagar where he learnt calligraphy from his father, who used to work in the local mosque. He came to Delhi in search of a better livelihood and hoping that his art would help him sustain. Initially he got freelance work to write in Urdu and Arabic, and then after three years this shop was set up in the Urdu bazaar.

He sadly remembers those days when he had bulk orders; people would get the entire holy Quran written in calligraphy, and then get it bound. Lots of the general populace used Urdu as their first language. They wrote poetry, couplets and ghazals, which obviously generated lot of work for Qari sahib and other such artistes. Lot of such poets and writers would get their work written beautifully in Urdu. “Those were the times when the Urdu zuban (language/tongue) lived, it was still alive among the natives of this place,” he reminisces.

Those were the heydays when the Urdu language had its presence in the literary world. But today the language is fast fading away from public memory, as has the art of calligraphy.

Now to help sustain himself, Qari sahib also makes rubber stamps and seals in Urdu and Arabic. Years ago he also got a photo copier machine to keep up with the times, but that too is redundant now, gathering dust. When asked he shows his old work, intricate writing, beautifully placed. Ornate.

Wasim: live-wire

With a total wicket tally of 916 in both forms of the game the man can still pack a witty punch with the over eager youngsters. Even after 6 years of retirement the Punjabi speaking Wasim bhai remains a force to be reckoned with - be it his charming persona, the winning smile and the easy going demeanour. However all these take a back seat when he is training the youngsters. He never takes his eyes off the ball. The love for the game is still very much apparent in him. With a smile he concluded that he’ll be back soon in India for the Champions’ league.


Brainstorming on the field