Old Bengali film poster for sale: Antarjali Yatra (1987).
Featured here is an actual surviving vintage Bengali movie poster of the 1987 social drama directed by Goutam Ghose that starred Bollywood star Shatrughan Sinha in the lead role.
Produced by National Film Development Corporation (NFDC), Antarjali Yatra (1987) also starred Shampa Ghosh, Basanta Choudhury, Promode Ganguly, Rabi Ghosh and Mohan Agashe in supporting roles.
Based on a novel called Mahayatra written by Kamal Kumar Majumdar, Antarjali Yatra (1987) was a period drama set in 19th century Bengal. It told the story of an old Brahmin called Seetaram (Promode Ganguly) who is on his deathbed. As per a religious custom prevalent at the time in Bengal called Antarjali, he is left at the banks of the holy waters of the Ganges. The Brahminic belief behind the tradition is that the holy waters of the Ganges will carry him to heaven. However, even after a few days of lying at the river bank, Seetaram doesn’t die. His astrologer (Rabi Ghosh) suggests that he needs a companion or a wife to pass on peacefully. Another old Brahmin (Basanta Choudhury) sees this as an opportunity to rid himself of the burden of his young beautiful daughter Yashobati (Shampa Ghosh) without having to pay dowry for the marriage. Thus, the marriage between Seetaram and Yashobati is set. Seetaram is brought back to the river bank to die, this time around with his newly married bride. Yashobati (soon to be turned widow) now has to deal with the social practice of self immolation on her husband’s funeral pyre (Sati) once he passes away. An untouchable crematorium worker Baiju (Shatrughan Sinha) working at the river bank starts a dialogue with Yashobati, advising her to run away instead of waiting for her husband to die and not force him to be a part of the sin of setting up a funeral pyre for burning a young widow alive. However, Yashobati continues to take care of her dying old husband on the banks of the river until the day the tide comes in and carries both of them away.
Antarjali Yatra (1987) won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Bengali in 1988 and was screened in the Un Certain Regard section of the 1988 Cannes Film Festival, making this poster, highly collectible!
Printed and circulated during the release run of the film in Kolkata theaters (somewhere in the late 1980s), this old Bengali film poster was designed for publicity of the film but never ended up being used.
This Antarjali Yatra poster was originally designed in mixed media format, combining still photographic collage with hand painted oil on canvas techniques by a poster design studio in Kolkata and features striking artwork.
Superstar Shatrughan Sinha is captured in a very expressive black and white still photograph prominently in this poster. He is seen wielding a stick, in his character of a lower caste crematorium worker.
Typography used in this old Shatrughan Sinha poster is entirely in Bengali, with the title appearing in a blood red font. An announcement on the top declares the plot of the film as, “Shatrughan Sinha against Sati.”
