Vintage Bengali poster for sale: Indrani (1958).
Featured here is an actual surviving vintage Bengali cinema poster of the 1958 blockbuster Bangla drama directed by Niren Lahiri that starred “Mahanayika” Suchitra Sen in the titular role as “Indrani Mukherjee.” The most popular and successful film star of Bengal, Uttam Kumar played her love interest in the film.
Indrani (1958) ran for over 70 days in theaters and is remembered as one of the most successful Bengali films of all time, making this vintage Bangla cinema poster, highly collectible!
The film featured the most iconic romantic pair in the history of Bengali cinema: Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen. The duo starred together in close to 30 films and are regarded as the first couple of Bengali cinema.
Produced by Harindranath Chattopadhyay under his HNC Productions banner, Indrani (1958) also starred Chhabi Biswas, Pahari Sanyal, Chandrabati Devi, Aparna Devi, Tulsi Chakraborty, Gangapada Bose, Jiben Bose, Tarun Kumar, Shyam Laha, Ketaki Dutta and Master Babua in supporting roles.
The film was based on a story written by noted Bengali author Achintya Kumar Sengupta. The film explored the complexities of caste as well as class differences between two lovers. Indrani (Suchitra Sen) is the daughter of a wealthy staunch Brahmin (uppermost caste). She falls in love with a middle class man called Sudarshan (Uttam Kumar) who belongs to a non-Brahmin lower caste. Studying for his PhD, Sudarshan cannot afford to give Indrani the life that she has grown up in. Despite their glaring differences in caste as well as social strata, the two decide to solemnize their love for each other and get married. What follows is a tumultuous time, where their differences become amplified with egos and misunderstandings. The divide between the two becomes sharper when Indrani takes up a job as a teacher and becomes more successful in her career than her husband, who is still looking to establish himself.
Printed and circulated during the release run of the film in Kolkata theaters (somewhere in the 1960s), this vintage Bengali poster was designed for publicity of the film but never ended up being used.
This Indrani poster was originally designed in hand drawn format by a poster design studio in Kolkata and features striking artwork.
A single shade of orange is used in the entire poster, giving it a very vintage look. Superstar Uttam Kumar and actress Suchitra Sen are captured in brilliantly composed hand drawn portraits in this old Indrani movie poster. Their chemistry is compelling in the illustration and the two appear lost in each other’s gaze.
Typography used in this old Suchitra Sen poster is entirely in Bengali, with the title appearing in a very creatively designed stylized font in white with a sharp black border. The entire artwork stands out in stark contrast against the minimal orange background.
The soundtrack album of Indrani (1958) was composed by Nachiketa Ghosh, while lyrics were written by Gouriprasanna Majumdar and Satyendranath Dutta.
Indrani (1958) is the first Bengali film to feature a song sung by legendary playback singer Mohammed Rafi called “Sabh Kuch Lutakar.”
