Amanush Bengali movie poster for sale.
Featured here is an actual surviving vintage publicity poster of the award winning 1974 Indian film co-written, produced and directed by Shakti Samanta that featured Sharmila Tagore and Uttam Kumar in lead roles. Noted actor Utpal Dutt played the role of a villain in the film.
Released under the banner of Shakti Films, Amanush (1974) was simultaneously shot in Bengali and Hindi languages. The Bengali version was released during the auspicious Durga Puja festival and became an all time blockbuster at the box office, followed by the Hindi release which also was a hit.
Amanush (1974) also starred Anil Chatterjee, Prema Narayan, Tarun Ghosh, Abhi Bhattacharya and Amarnath Mukherjee in supporting roles.
Based on Shaktipada Rajguru’s novel Naya Basat, Amanush (1974) told the story of a straightforward man called Madhu (Uttam Kumar), who is the son of a wealthy landlord settled in a fishing village in the Sundarbans. Madhu’s entire wealth and possessions are taken away by his conniving accountant Mahim Ghoshal (Utpal Dutt). Reduced to the state of penury, Madhu is consumed by alcohol and thus becomes “Amanush,” i.e. half human and half beast.
Printed and circulated a few years after the first release of the film (somewhere in the late 1970s), this old Bengali movie poster was printed for publicity of the Bengali release of the film but never ended up being used.
This vintage Amanush poster was originally designed in hand painted oil on canvas format by an art studio in Kolkata and features a striking design. Superstar Uttam Kumar is see in a large portrait in the foreground with his finger raised, while Sharmila Tagore appears in a smaller avatar in the background.
The two-tone color combination of red and green gives this Amanush Bengali movie poster a very contrasting appearance. Typography used in this Uttam Kumar poster is entirely in Bengali, with the title appearing in a stylized curved font.
The soundtrack album of Amanush (1974) was composed by Shyamal Mitra and became a blockbuster upon the film’s release. Songs like “Bipinbabur Karon Sudha” and “Ki Ashay Baandhi Khelaghar” sung by Kishore Kumar are fondly remembered and played till today.
Amanush (1974) won several awards and accolades, including the prestigious Filmfare awards. The film’s success spawned three South Indian remakes – Edureeta (1977) in Telugu, Ithaa Oru Manushyan (1978) in Malayalam and Thyagam (1978) in Tamil.
