Bagh Bahadur

Bagh Bahadur poster for sale.

Featured here is an actual surviving original Bollywood poster of the 1989 Hindi film written and directed by Buddhadeb Dasgupta that starred Pavan Malhotra in the titular role.

Presented by Doordarshan and released under the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) banner, Bagh Bahadur (1989) also starred M.V. Vasudeva Rao, Biplab Chatterjee, Archana, Rajeshwari Raychowdhury and Masood Akhtar in supporting roles.

Bagh Bahadur (1989) won massive critical acclaim, with it’s original Bengali release bagging the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in the year it was released, making this poster, highly collectible!

Based on a short story authored by Prafulla Roy, Bagh Bahadur (1989) told the tale of a poor man called Ghumuram (Pavan Malhotra) who dresses up like a tiger and dances on the streets of his village. The art form has been handed down to him over generations in his family and he takes great pride in continuing the tradition. Ghumuram works for eleven months every year doing hard contractual labor in the city to sustain himself. He takes the last month off to return to his village (Nonpura), where he eagerly performs his tiger dance in front of an appreciative audience. The performance is what makes him feel alive, besides rewarding him financially. Part of his two-man troupe is an old man called Sibal (M.V. Vasudeva Rao ) who plays the drums and helps paint his body and transform him into a tiger. He dreams of earning enough money so that he can build a home in his village and marry the woman he loves, Sibal’s daughter Radha (Archana). However, his dreams are dashed when a well-funded and marketing-savvy entertainment troupe arrives from the city of Patna. The leader of the troupe Sambalal (Biplab Chatterjee) brings a real leopard along, staging a mock wrestling match with the animal. The entire village is mesmerized by the gimmick and flocks to see his performance. Ghumuram tries his best to win back love and respect from his audience but they begin to mock him instead. Adding insult to his injury, the woman he loves dearly, Radha is mesmerized by Sambalal’s flamboyance and bravery. She rejects a proposal by her father to marry Ghumuram, dreaming instead to move to a big city with Sambalal for a better future. Not wanting to give up his treasured tiger dance art form and the woman he loves without a fight, Ghumuram’s Rajput warrior blood is stirred up to confront Sambalal and his leopard.

Printed and circulated during the first release of the Hindi version of the film in theaters (somewhere in 1989), this Bagh Bahadur poster was designed for publicity of the film but never ended up being used.

This old Bollywood poster was originally designed using photographic collage techniques. A stunning still photograph of actor Pavan Malhotra dressed as a tiger is seen on the top right. Actress Archana is seen sobbing in a close up photo taken from the climax of the film, on the top left. A smaller still photo of actor Pavan Malhotra wrestling with a leopard is seen at the bottom of this Bagh Bahadur poster.

The top left of the background is red (signifying blood), while the top right is striped (representing the ring in which the leopard fight takes place). The bottom half is kept a minimal white for the lettering to stand out in contrast. The title of the film appears in handwritten font in yellow accentuated with a black border, representing the stripes of a tiger.

Typography used in this original Bollywood poster is primarily in English, except for the title’s translation in Devanagari Hindi. Originally released in Bengali, the Hindi version of the film is promoted with the language mentioned in brackets under the title. The success of the film at the National Awards is announced on the top as, “President Gold Medal Winner Best Film.”