Indore. The posters that were the identity of Mumbai Hindi films, seen on walls and in cinema halls, are now a thing of the past. With the changing times, multiplexes replaced cinema halls, and the posters that were made by hand after hours of hard work were replaced by flex made on computers. The artist’s picture on these posters, which were pasted at various places in the city, may not have been exactly the same, but the message of the poster was clearly understood. With the changing times, the artists who made such posters also got lost in oblivion, but there is still an artist in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, who has tried to revive this memory of the old era and pass it on to the coming generation.
70-year-old Indore-based poster artist Purushottam Solanki has known the intricacies of making film posters since childhood. He has worked in this field for a long time, so his passion for his work is amazing. In this passion, Purushottam Solanki did something that cannot even be imagined these days. The Indore artist has made posters of films made in the golden era of Hindi cinema from its inception. Posters that look exactly like the ones pasted on cinema halls or walls decades ago. Be it the first film Raja Harishchandra or the first talking film Alam Ara, Guide or Madhumati, Awara, Anarkali or any other film counted among the greatest films of all time… Purushottam Solanki has made posters of 100 such films with his own hands.
Rajmandir’s first film, first poster
Local18 spoke to this extraordinary artist from Indore. 70-year-old Purushottam says that he learned painting from his uncle Nandkishore Solanki while studying in Jaipur. Then he started making movie posters. Solanki says that the first movie Charas was released in Jaipur’s famous cinema hall Raj Mandir, I made its poster too. The more publicity there was, the more demand there was. My posters were sent to Indore, Ujjain, Bhopal, Gwalior. After working in Jaipur for 12 years, I came to Indore. At that time, posters were put up on talkies, watching posters along with watching movies was also a hobby. But that era is over. Flex replaced posters. Then artists had to face financial crisis. Earlier, four to five artists used to make posters, but now it has become the work of machines. About the 100 posters he made, Solanki says that he made them alone. It took about 2 months to complete some posters. Because they have coating, then color is applied and the process of drying them again and again is separate.
Guaranteed to last for 100 years
Why did you think of making posters again? On this question, Purushottam Solanki says that after the old phase ended, he felt that he should do something with film posters. When this work stopped, he had to do something to make a living, at this age he could not find any other work, so he turned his mind towards world record. Meanwhile, the corona virus disease came. He started working from 2020. Solanki has made 100 posters of films from the year 1913 to 1980. It took 4 years to make them. Many other materials are used along with wood, canvas, plywood, powder color etc. Solanki told that wood is bought from Labaria Bheru, canvas from cloth market, powder color from Bohra Bazaar or Siyaganj, tube color from Jail Road. He claimed that these colors will last for 100 years. These colors have been made using pure linseed oil.
Lata Mangeshkar wishes to install it in the auditorium
In a conversation with Local18, Purushottam Solanki says that he has been nurturing this art for 55 years. The posters he has made are of master size, i.e. 30 by 40 inches. He has made unique posters for India’s first mute film ‘Raja Harishchandra’, then the talking film ‘Alam Ara’ and the superhit films made till 1980 like ‘Guide’, ‘Anarkali’, ‘Mera Naam Joker’, ‘Madhumati’, ‘Awara’ etc. He says that before starting a new work, he will put up these posters online in the international market. Solanki says that he wants to put up the posters in the Lata Mangeshkar Auditorium, because 90 percent of the posters he has made have Lata Mangeshkar’s songs in them. If he finds any resort, hotel or garden, he can put up the posters there, so that Indore gets fame and my identity also remains intact.
Tags: Entertainment Special, Film Trivia, Indian Cinema, Indore news, Local18
FIRST PUBLISHED : June 17, 2024, 18:56 IST