Babul

Antique movie posters for sale: Babul (1950).

This is an actual surviving original vintage Bollywood movie poster of the 1950 Hindi film that featured the “Emperor of Acting” Dilip Kumar in the lead role along with actresses Nargis and Munawar Sultana in key roles.

Directed by S.U. Sunny, Babul (1950) was a hit emotional drama that also starred Amar, A. Shah, Vinod, Jankidas, Jugnu, Chandbala, Seema, Meher, Khursheed and Uma Devi (Tun Tun) in supporting roles.

Printed and circulated during the release run of the film in theaters (somewhere in the 1950s), this Babul poster was originally designed for publicity of the film but never ended up being used.

Originally hand drawn on canvas by a Bollywood poster design studio in Bombay, this antique movie poster features stunning illustrations of the three key characters.

Considered as the greatest method actor in Indian cinema and often labeled as “tragedy king,” Dilip Kumar is seen illustrated prominently on the right of this old Bollywood poster. The artist captures his smile brilliantly. A large portrait of actress Nargis smiling is seen alongside in an equally beautiful illustration. a smaller hand drawn portrait of actress Munawar Sultana is seen on the bottom right of this antique movie poster.

Soothing pastel shades have been used in painting all three portraits, which stand out in stark contrast against a minimal white background.

Typography used in this old Bollywood poster is in Devanagari Hindi, with a translation of the title appearing in English and Urdu as well. The title appears in red, black and blue in the three different languages used.

The soundtrack album of Babul (1950) was composed by Naushad and lyrics were written by Shakeel Badayuni. The song “Chhod Babul Ka Ghar” sung by Shamshad Begum and picturised on Nargis has become a timeless classic.