Bengali cinema captured through poster art: Srikanter Will (1979).
Featured here is an actual surviving original movie poster of the 1979 black and white Bangla drama directed by Dinen Gupta that starred the biggest superstar of Bengali cinema, Uttam Kumar in the lead role.
Produced by Jaganmata Films, Srikanter Will (1979) also starred Ranjit Mallick, Sumitra Mukherjee, Bikash Roy, Gita Dey, Dipti Roy, Samir Majumdar, Shyamal Ghosal, Kalipada Chakraborty, Tapati Ghosh, Sadhana Raychowdhury and Khudiram Bhattacharya in supporting roles.
Srikanter Will (1979) told the story of an innocent man called Srikanta (played by Uttam Kumar) who suffers from amnesia. The rightful owner of a large ancestral estate, Srikanta suffers years of abuse at the hands of his extended family. As he cannot remember the contents or the location of his will, he is mistreated and tortured by members of his own family. When Srikanta regains his memory, he decides to set matters straight and gain back control over his rightful inheritance.
Printed and circulated during the first release of the film in theaters (somewhere in 1979), this Srikanter Will poster was designed for publicity of the film but never ended up being used.
This old Bengali cinema poster was originally designed in mixed media format using a combination of both hand painted oil on canvas as well as photographic collage techniques by a poster art studio in Kolkata called BEEKECEE and features striking artwork.
A close up of superstar Uttam Kumar appears in a stunning hand painted illustration dominating the bottom half of the poster. The artwork is set against a yellow background and vertical stripes are seen over his face. Heads of four key members of the supporting cast are seen in black and white on the top, divided on the left and right in perfect symmetry.
Typography used in this old movie poster is entirely in Bengali, with the title appearing in a very creatively styled font in orange accentuated with a yellow border, standing out in stark contrast against a white background.
The soundtrack album of Srikanter Will (1979) was composed and written by Salil Chowdhury with songs sung by legends such as Manna Dey and Yesudas.
