Extremely rare, old Marathi movie poster of the black and white film, Kunku (1937) for sale.
This is an actual surviving original old Marathi movie poster of the 1937 film which was produced by Prabhat Film Company and directed by legendary filmmaker, V. Shantaram.
Kunku told the story of a young woman (played by lead actress Shanta Apte) who rebels against her marriage to a much older widower, as was the norm in those days. Kunku was a critical and commercial success, and was shown at the Venice International Film Festival. The film was one of the early social awareness themed films in India that tackled the sensitive subject of treatment of women in Indian society.
Kunku was also one of first films made in India that openly dealt with the issue of widow remarriage, making this old Marathi movie poster, highly collectible.
Printed and circulated a few years after the first release of the film (early 1940s), this old Marathi movie poster was originally designed for publicity of the film but never ended up being used.
In this old Marathi movie poster, lead actress Shanta Apte is seen in a black and white photographic still, which has been painted and sketched over. The still photo is set against a retro background in this old Marathi movie poster. The iconic Prabhat Film Company logo is seen on the top left corner that reads, “It’s Prabhat.”
Prabhat Film Company popularly known as Prabhat Films is widely regarded as one of the finest film production companies and film studios in the history of Indian cinema. It was established in 1929 (towards the end of the silent films era) by noted film director V. Shantaram, in Kolhapur, Maharashtra. The company moved to Pune in 1933, where it established its own studio and produced a total of 45 films in both Marathi and Hindi over a period of 27 years. Prabhat Film Company created a name for itself owing largely to its production excellence and social awareness themes.
Kunku is a 1937 Marathi social awareness film based on the novel, Na Patnari Goshta by Narayan Hari Apte, who also wrote film’s screenplay. Lead actress Shanta Apte even sang a few songs in the film, most memorable among them being a full-fledged English song called “A Psalm of Life”, written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
