Aag

Raj Kapoor film poster of the old Hindi movie Aag (1948) for sale.

This is an actual surviving original Bollywood movie poster of the 1948 film that was produced and directed by the “greatest showman of Indian cinema” (also known as “the Clark Gable of the Indian film industry”), Raj Kapoor.

The film starred Raj Kapoor, Nargis, Nigar Sultana, Kamini Kaushal, Shashi Kapoor and Premnath. Raj Kapoor’s youngest brother Shashi Kapoor appeared as a child artist in Aag, playing the younger version of his character.

Aag marked the debut of Raj Kapoor as a producer and director; it was the first film produced under Raj Kapoor’s illustrious R.K. banner; and was the first film in which Raj Kapoor and Nargis appeared together, making this vintage Bollywood poster highly collectible!

After Aag was released in 1948, the onscreen pair of Raj Kapoor and Nargis became synonymous with love. Their chemistry was so remarkable that the two went on to star in another 15 films together, becoming the most iconic on screen couple in the history of Indian cinema!

Printed and circulated a few years after the debut of the film (somewhere in the late 1950s), this Raj Kapoor film poster was originally designed and 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 Bombay. Dramatic brush strokes are seen in a fiery background. The movie poster artist depicts the showman in a rather sombre mood in a large close up portrait in this Raj Kapoor film poster. A smaller depiction of actress Nargis is seen alongside. Actress Kamini Kaushal is seen in a smaller hand painted rendition at the bottom of this Raj Kapoor film poster.

This Raj Kapoor Nargis poster features simplistic but yet very catchy typography in the title. Interestingly, the background is set in colour whereas the figures have been hand painted in black and white. The lettering appears entirely in English, except for a translation of the title into both Devanagari Hindi as well as Urdu which is seen on the top of this Raj Kapoor movie poster. The iconic RK logo is seen on the top right hand corner of this original Bollywood movie poster.

The music of Aag was composed by Ram Ganguly, unlike in Raj Kapoor’s subsequent films where the hit duo Shankar-Jaikishan took over as his preferred choice.