Sadhna

S. Rehman Bollywood poster: Sadhna (1958).

Featured here is an actual surviving old Bollywood poster of the 1958 critically acclaimed hit social drama produced and directed by B.R. Chopra that starred Sunil Dutt and Vyjayanthimala in lead roles.

Released under the prestigious B.R. Films banner, Sadhna (1958) also starred Leela Chitnis, Radhakrishan, Manmohan Krishna, Uma Dutt and Ravikant in supporting roles.

The film featured a progressive subject that was regarded as a social taboo at the time, telling the story of a prostitute’s love affair with a professor.

Sadhna (1958) was a bold portrayal of how the plight of helpless women engaged in prostitution was viewed by society. The film was also reformist in that it exposed how society rejected the process of rehabilitation of prostitutes, which was a highly controversial subject at the time. It challenged societal norms by questioning if a prostitute could ever become a wife and integrate with society.

The film’s artistic handling of a sensitive social subject won it widespread appeal and helped Sadhna become the most critically acclaimed film of the year, making this vintage Bollywood poster highly collectible!

Actress Vyjayanthimala won the Filmfare Award for Best Actress for her role as “Champabai” in Sadhna. Her stunning dance performances and mature acting even though she was only twenty two years old at the time were praised by fans and critics alike.

Printed and circulated subsequent to the film’s frst release (somewhere in the 1980s), this Sadhna movie poster was originally designed for publicity of the film but never ended up being used.

This old Indian cinema poster was originally designed in mixed media format, combining both hand painted oil on canvas techniques as well as photographic still collage by S. Rehman Bollywood poster artist from Bombay.

Actress Vyjayanthimala is depicted dancing in a quirky hand drawn portrait at the center. The background depicts a dance hall with a chandelier hanging from the ceiling above. A large hand painted close up of actor Sunil Dutt in his character of “Professor Mohan” is seen at the bottom left of this old Bollywood poster.

A key scene from the film in which actress Vyjayanthimala is seen being accepted by her mother-in-law along with actor Sunil Dutt who plays her husband, appears over painted on the right. Manmohan Krishna is seen illustrated above, holding a knife in his hand.

Typography used in this S. Rehman Bollywood poster is entirely in Devanagari Hindi, except for the title which has been translated to both English as well as Urdu at the bottom. Lyrics of hit songs from the film are hand written on the top right: “Kaho Ji Tum Kya Kya Kharidoge …,” “Aaj Kyon Hamse Parda Hai …” and “Aurat Ne Janam Diya Mardon Ko, Mardon Ne Use Bazaar Diya …”

The soundtrack album of Sadhna (1958) was composed by Datta Naik, while lyrics were penned by Sahir Ludhianvi. Songs from the film were sung by Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammed Rafi, Geeta Dutt and Asha Bhosle.

One of the tracks “Aurat Ne Janam Diya Mardon Ko, Mardon Ne Use Bazaar Diya” became a rage throughout the nation at the time of the film’s release. The opening lyrics of this song are written on the top of this vintage Bollywood poster. Loosely translated, the line reads, “Woman gave birth to men; Men gave her a brothel.”