Sepia Times

Domnic Corda,an art collector based in Pune,refers to himself as a "refined kabadiwala".

An exhibition of rare Indian film memorabilia pays tribute to the completion of 50 years of Mughal-e-Azams release

Domnic Corda,an art collector based in Pune,refers to himself as a “refined kabadiwala”. “People come and sell stuff to me that no one would normally buy,” he jokes as he points out to an old,hand-painted still from the Bollywood super hit,Mughal-e-Azam – with Dilip Kumar,dressed as the charming Salim,looking longingly at Madhubala,his poignant Anarkali.

As a tribute to the completion of 50 years by this cinematic masterpiece,an exhibition featuring more than 350 rare memorabilia was inaugurated on July 4 at The Happening Place,Camp,by Prashant Patharbai,director of National Film Archives of India (NFAI). Snapshots of Indian cinema going back to the year 1913 are up on display here. “These are all hand-painted posters that had been used extensively for publicity around 50-60 years ago. All of them are remarkable masterpieces,” says Corda.

Corda’s collection developed gradually over the last 15 years and speaks of his fondness for Hindi cinema. “Some of these posters I would just get by chance,some I had to buy,but people knew that if someone is seriously interested in this,then it is Corda.” The exhibition showcases a life-size poster of Mughal-e- Azam ,a rare series of posters from the film Raju Reporter (1962),Zimbo (1958),Rajputani (1946),Pavan Putra Hanuman (1957) and even Jagte Raho (1956). Apart from posters,Corda also has a collection of synopsis of movies that used to be distributed during the screenings of films in theatres many decades ago,cassette covers and postcard-sized portraits of yester-year stars.

The quality of the art work in the posters is striking. In one of the paintings for Mughal-e-Azam,the signature of the artist can be clearly spotted – G. Kamble. Kolhapur-based Kamble had also painted posters for films like Kangan,Bandhan and Roti . “It is believed that during Queen Elizabeth II’s tour of India in 1961,she came across posters of Mughal-e- Azam and got so impressed that she asked for a screening of the movie. Such was the precision of Kamble’s style,” says Corda.

Several old posters also carried names of their art designers or studios,which perhaps no longer even exist. One comes across names like New Apsara Arts,Bombay,which had painted for Ek Saal (1957),Dhynashewar Litho Press,Bombay,which had done the poster for Mr and Mrs 55 (1955) and Adarsh Litho and Offset Printers for Zimbo Comes to Town (1960). Corda hopes that his exhibition travels around the country. “I want more and more people to see this collection. It’s precious cinematic memories and we need to cherish them.”

The exhibition is on at The Happening Place,above BMW showroom,Camp,from July 4 to July 16.

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