When Objects Speak

Pathak’s way of creating a poster is simple. He picks a movie that he wants to make a poster for and then he takes the most meaningful idea,concept or memory from the movie to use it in his work. “The posters could range from Munnabhai MBBS to Mithun Chakraborty’s Gunda to even the animation Jungle Book that used to air on Doordarshan,” says Pathak,a graduate of National Institute of Fashion Technology,New Delhi.

The illustrations provide a visual relation to what he or a majority of viewers have experienced while watching that particular movie. For example,the picture of a handpump made famous by Sunny Deol is seen on the poster of Gadar — Ek Prem Katha. Similarly,he uses a glass of orange juice and a carrom board for Munnabhai MBBS poster and an arm stretched forward with the words “Mera baap chor hai” tattooed on it for that of Deewar. “Each concept is a counter attack to the growing complexity of the actual poster,” says Pathak,who started this project in February with Agneepath.

Pathak then posted them on his blog and also created a group on Facebook. Within a course of a few days,many enthusiasts started sending their versions which Pathak then started posting. He even held an exhibition of his posters on March 9-10 at New Delhi’s India Habitat Centre. Pathak,now hopes to get these prints on T-shirts,coffee mugs and other merchandise. Yet,it’s not the commercial concerns that drives this pop-art project. “Minimalism is an art in itself and when my expression of minimalism collected so many like-minded people who could appreciate the same as well as contribute their work,there was no looking back,” he says.