Film posters tell their own stories, even of the evolution of the popular medium. A recent exhibition, ‘Salaam Cinema’ held at ICCR, Kolkata, and put up by Sounak Chacraverti, art curator and cinema aficionado, gave a glimpse of cinema history of Bengali and Hindi films through the lens of posters, found Ranjita Biswas
Excerpts from an interview:
What is the idea behind ‘Salaam Cinema’?
‘Salaam Cinema’ is an exhibition of rare film stills, posters and film merchandise built around them. I must say the two exhibitions I have curated and presented have elicited tremendous interest from film enthusiasts.
After how many years have you held the recent exhibition?
The recent exhibition – ‘Salaam Cinema 2.0’ at ICCR was the second one; this was held after a decade. Two organisations – Art Inn and Sensorium joined hands to present this unique exhibition twice. The first one was held in 2015. I am not sure when the third edition will happen.
Why this interest in film posters?
I have been a film buff since my childhood. Mostly films made in Bombay/ Mumbai. But my mother was dead against my watching the so-called Hindi films. She introduced me to the world of Satyajit Ray, Tapan Sinha, Tarun Majumdar, Mrinal Sen, Rajen Tarafdar et al. Later I started watching works by other directors, especially Ritwik Ghatak. The interest in film posters possibly grew from this addiction to cinema.
When did you start collecting film posters?
In 2007 I had the opportunity to meet Sukumar Roy (we called him Sukumar-da). He was noted filmmaker Tapan Sinha’s official photographer. He was a thorough gentleman. Both of us decided to work together. In the following year ‘The World of Tapan Sinha’ (2008), an archival exhibition of photographs and film memorabilia was curated by us and presented at the newly opened ICCR in Kolkata. It was around this time that I slowly started collecting film posters.
In 2014, ‘A Manzil of Memories’, an archival exhibition on the legendary film director Basu Chatterji was also my brainchild.
Can you share some anecdotes around some of these posters? Some are rare, I believe.
In the recent exhibition, we have been able to showcase some rare posters of Bengali and Hindi films. Like, those of Bengali hit film Banchharamer Bagaan (The Orchard of Banchharam, 1980), Raja (Tapan Sinha, 1974), Sagarika (B&W poster with Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen, 1956), legendary filmmaker Pramathesh Barua’s Mukti (1937). K. Asif’s Mughal-e-Azam poster is also a rare one.
I don’t think there’s another copy left of the above-mentioned posters, especially the first two films.
Have you held this exhibition elsewhere in India?
I haven’t had an opportunity to exhibit ‘Salaam Cinema’ other than in Kolkata. These travelling exhibitions require a lot of money and without external support it is impossible to make it happen. My first archival exhibition on Tapan Sinha, however, did travel to Pune in 2009 at the invitation of FTII, Pune. It was very warmly received.
You have designed many memorabilia items based on these posters, including famous stars and directors. What kind of response have you received from the film aficionados?
I must mention clearly that the film merchandise created by us are absolutely limited editions. We do not produce in bulk. A maximum number of two – trays or coasters or any other product are created. In both the editions of ‘Salaam Cinema’, the audience/visitors really appreciated our film merchandise.
(Trans World Features)
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