Cinema Scope

The exhibition includes a black and white poster of Dilip Kumar and Meena Kumari from the 1958 Bollywood film Yahudi,a coloured poster of Amitabh Bachchan’s Coolie,and those of recent ones like Lagaan and Jodha Akbar,along with a 1000 others. “For me these posters are a pictorial view of society at large,the way our country has grown,its culture,people,fashion and progress,” says Gupta,who decided to take up this initiative in 1985,a time when most of the Indian ambassador offices he visited across the country,only had pictures of snake charmers and heritage buildings on the walls. “I wanted India to be seen in a more versatile way,and what better medium than through the eyes of Indian Cinema,” says Gupta,who over the years worked on the project along with officials of Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR),Department of Arts and Culture,Republic of South Africa and High Commission of Pretoria,to collect a range of posters. Done in association with the Government of India,the festival will be on till July 31,and will move to Durban and Cape Town after Johannesburg.

The exhibition will also have audio-visual presentations in which actors such as Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla,art directors Sanjay Dhawade and Ganesh Acharaya and music director Uttam Singh will talk about the journey of Indian cinema. “We also have a Kathak performance by the disciples of Pandit Birju Maharaj,who will take the audience through the journey of the dance,the beginning of Kathak in the Mughal era and then its journey in Indian cinema,” says Gupta,who adds that the initiative aims to strengthen the existing alliance between the two nations through art and culture.