Leela Desai

Vintage Indian poster for sale of the old Hindi film President (1937).

This is an actual surviving old Indian movie poster for sale of the 1937 Hindi film President that was produced by New Theatres, Calcutta and directed by Nitin Bose.

President starred noted singer and actor K. L. Saigal who is regarded as the first superstar of Indian cinema. Among all of K. L. Saigal’s memorable films which include cult hits like Devdas, President is often cited as his finest, making this vintage Indian poster for sale highly collectible!

President is fondly remembered for an epic song sung by K. L. Saigal, “Ek Bangla Bane Nyara”. Written by Kidar Sharma, the song became a rare throughout the nation and epitomizes a common man’s dream of owning a home in India till date.

Printed and circulated during the initial release run of the film (somewhere in the late 1930s), this vintage Indian poster for sale was printed for publicity of the film but never ended up being used.

This vintage Bollywood poster was originally designed in hand painted oil on canvas format by an art studio in Kolkata. The poster features quirky line drawn portraits of the lead couple K. L. Saigal and Leela Desai. As was the norm with old Indian posters of the era, this poster has been designed and printed using only two colors (understandably to save on design and print costs).

President was a Hindi remake of the Bengali film Didi. A social romantic drama from New Theatres, its screenplay direction and cinematography were done by Nitin Bose. President was the first Indian film to show a liberated educated woman running her own factory.