Shakuntala poster for sale.
Featured here is an actual surviving original movie poster of the 1941 traditional black and white Bangla film directed by Jyotish Bandyopadhyay that starred Jyotsna Gupta in the titular role of Shakuntala opposite Dhiraj Bhattacharya who played the role of king Dushyanta.
Produced by lndra Movietone, Shakuntala (1941) also starred Manoranjan Bhattacharya, Satya Mukhopadhyay, Joy Narayan Mukherjee, Umatara, Ahi Sanyal, Manju Bose, Sandhya Rani, Manorama Devi, Meera Devi, Purnima Devi, Usha Devi, Sushil Ray, Kartik Ray, Gayatri Ray, Phalguni Bhattacharya and Labanya Das in supporting roles.
The film was based on one of the most renowned love stories in Indian literature that appears in the revered Hindu epic of the Mahabharata. Subsequently detailed by the great India poet Kalidasa in his celebrated play Abhijnanashakuntalam (Recognition of Shakuntala), the story of Shakuntala is deeply woven into the cultural ethos of India.
Celestial fairy Menaka is sent by the king of gods Indra to break the intense meditation of powerful sage Vishvamitra with her irresistible beauty. The two become lovers and Shakuntala is born. Vishvamitra returns to his meditation and Menaka to her celestial abode, abandoning Shakuntala in the forest shortly after her birth. Protected by shakuntas (birds), the infant is discovered and adopted by sage Kanva who names her Shakuntala after the birds that sheltered her. Raised in Kanva’s peaceful forest hermitage, Shakuntala grows up surrounded by nature and the spiritual traditions of the ashram.
One day Shakuntala meets King Dushyanta who finds his way to Kanva’s hermitage in the woods while hunting. The two fall deeply in love and marry in secret according to the Gandharva tradition. Before returning to his kingdom, Dushyanta gives Shakuntala a ring as a token of his love and promises to take her with him later.
Lost in thoughts of Dushyanta, Shakuntala fails to notice sage Durvasa when he visits the hermitage. Enraged at not being greeted respectfully, he curses her, declaring that Dushyanta will forget her. Later, the curse is softened so that he will remember her only when he sees the ring. When Shakuntala discovers she is pregnant, she journeys to her husband king Dushyanta’s palace. Unfortunately, Shakuntala loses the ring on her journey and Dushyanta does not recognize her. Heartbroken, she returns to the wilderness where she gives birth to an extraordinarily strong and fearless son, Bharata. When a fisherman finds the ring and brings it to King Dushyanta, his memory returns and he remembers Shakuntala and their love. Shakuntala and Dushyanta are reunited and their son grows into a great king, whose glorious kingdom comes to be known as Bharata (India) after him.
Printed and circulated during a subsequent release run of the film in theaters (somewhere in the 1960s/1970s), this Shakuntala poster was designed for publicity of the film but never ended up being used.
This old Bengali cinema poster was originally designed in hand painted format by a poster art studio in Kolkata and features striking artwork.
Actress Jyotsna Gupta is illustrated in a hand drawn portrait in her character of Shakuntala. She appears dressed in a simple garment made from bark cloth, wearing flowers in her hair and carrying a water pot. The background shows the wilderness surrounding Kanva’s forest hermitage. A deer and a lion are depicted in the distance.
Typography used in this Shakuntala movie poster is entirely in Bengali, with the title appearing in a very creatively styled font in yellow accentuated with a black border.
The soundtrack album of Shakuntala (1941) was composed by Krishnachandra Dey.
