Reliving period art

[1]

Eastman colours, larger than life figures, pictorial adjectives of fight sequences — a drama unfolds on a three-by-three poster. The art of painting film posters that was popularised by the legendary painter MF Hussain is being revisited by Bollywood. Rowdy Rathore, Rockstar, The Dirty Picture and Ishaqzaade — posters of these four films captured the imagination of audiences.

Be it Rowdy Rathore posing with the heroine clad in a candy-pink saree or the long tresses and anger in the eyes of the Rockstar. The vivid images evoked a ‘waah!’ response from the viewers. When such artwork brings alive the film on a poster, why did the art of painting film posters disappear from the mainstream? “When flex printing became affordable and Korean material became cheap, producers switched from hand-painted posters to the cost-effective flexes,” says Sudhir Sharma, creative chief, indidesign, a brand, design and innovation consultancy. Now after the lull the vibrant posters are back. “It’s because of the multiplex audiences who appreciate and understand the aesthetics, that the lost art is being revisited,” adds Sudhir.
The magic of the dramatic expressions, sensuous dance moves and memorable one-liners all are significant elements of the creative. The art of grabbing eyeballs with the strokes is something that only skilled artists are capable of creating on large canvases. But the easy way out is to work on one creative and get it replicated as many times as possible. “So where is the revival? Just by working on one creative, it’s not right to say the art is being revived. It is just the style of that particular era that is being brought alive,” says senior artist Orijit Sen who works closely with film poster artists.
Those behind the recent magnificent posters agree and say, “I don’t know if the art is back. If it is then I am glad,” says Chaitanya Sant, creative director, Mantra SDS, the team behind Rowdy Rathore posters. But creating such quirky posters sure seems to be a challenging process. “Keeping it different from the conventional route was our idea. So a combination of one-liners like Faulad ki aulad, Ilaka tera dhamaka mera with the characters in the creative arouses the curiosity of the audience. Half the campaign was created from film stills, but our team made it look larger than life. This kind of liberty comes only with the cooperation of the filmmakers,” adds Chaitanya.