Babul

Indian bridal poster for sale: Babul (1986).

Featured here is an actual surviving Bollywood poster of the old 1986 Hindi drama co-written and directed by Govind Moonis that starred Gyan Shivpuri, Aakash and Upasana Singh in lead roles.

Produced by Tarachand Barjatya and released under his prestigious Rajshri Productions banner, Babul (1986) also starred Kanchan Rawal, Anjan Srivastav, Urvashi Dholakia (as child artist), Chandani, Madhavi Manjula, Adil Rana and Brahmachari in supporting roles.

Babul (1986) told the story of an ex-criminal (Gyan Shivpuri) who finds a little girl (Urvashi Dholakia) and decides to adopt her and reform his life. He sets up a juice stall outside her school to live an honest life and provide for his adopted daughter. Years later, the girl (Upasna Singh) grows up and meets a wealthy boy (Aakash) at her adoptive father’s juice stall and falls in love, desiring to marry him. However when her father seeks an alliance with the boy’s guardian, he is humiliated and thrown out of their house.

Printed and circulated during the first release run of the film (somewhere in the mid 1980s), this old Indian bridal poster was originally designed for publicity of the film but never ended up being used.

Actress Upasana Singh is seen in a stunning bridal photograph, seated inside a palanquin. She appears being carried away from her father’s home to her in-laws home.

Typography used in this Indian bridal poster is entirely in Devanagari Hindi, except for the title which is translated to both English as well as Urdu. The main Devanagari Hindi title of the film appears in yellow with a shehnai (oboe) interwoven into it, representing an Indian wedding ceremony.

The soundtrack album of Babul (1986) was composed by Ravindra Jain and featured the hit song, “Teri Bholi Muskanon Ne” sung by Yesudas.