Barsaat Ki Ek Raat

Bachchan poster for sale: Barsaat Ki Ek Raat (1981).

Featured here is an actual surviving vintage Bollywood poster of the old 1981 Hindi film produced and directed by Shakti Samanta that starred the greatest superstar in Indian cinema, Amitabh Bachchan in the lead role opposite actress Rakhee.

Produced under the Shakti Films banner and presented by United Producers, Barsaat Ki Ek Raat (1981) also starred Amjad Khan, Utpal Dutt, Abhi Bhattacharya, Prema Narayan, Asit Sen, Tarun Ghosh, Manik Dutt and Subroto Mahapatra in supporting roles, while Sujit Kumar made a guest appearance in the film.

Shot extensively in Darjeeling in both Hindi as well as Bengali, Barsaat Ki Ek Raat (1981) was based on a novel called Anusandhan written by Shaktipada Rajguru. It told the story of a tea estate in Darjeeling that has been brutalized by father-son duo Sahuji (Utpal Dutt) and Kaaliram (Amjad Khan). The two have corrupted the tea business by supplying substandard materials, passing inflated bills by bribing accountants and extorting huge sums of interest from poor laborers working at the estate. Further, Kaaliram routinely abducts and rapes young women working as laborers at the tea estate. The only one standing in their way is an honest tea estate manager called Boro Babu (Abhi Bhattacharya) who refuses to indulge in malpractices. To end their reign of terror in the region, an honest police officer called Abhijeet (Amitabh Bachchan) arrives at the tea estate undercover. He stands up to the atrocities of Kaaliram, only to find a local police officer loyal to the father-son duo (Asit Sen) cover their crimes each time. Abhijeet falls in love with Boro Babu’s blind daughter Tamosha (Rakhee). On a rainy night, Kaaliram attempts to abduct and rape Tamosha but Abhijeet steps in and saves her. He has Kaaliram arrested and thrown into jail. Abhijeet and Tamosha get married and are expecting a child when Kaaliram is freed from prison and returns one more time to exact his revenge.

Printed and circulated during the initial release run of the film in theaters (somewhere in the early 1980s), this Barsaat Ki Ek Raat poster was originally designed for publicity of the film but never ended up being used.

This old Amitabh Bachchan poster was originally designed in hand painted oil on canvas format by a Bombay based Bollywood poster painter.

A stunning hand drawn close up portrait of superstar Amitabh Bachchan is seen dominating the entire area of this vintage Bollywood poster. Pop art styled line drawing technique is used in the illustration. Set against a black background, the artwork stands out in vivid contrast.

Typography used in this Barsaat Ki Ek Raat poster is primarily in English, with a translation of the title appearing in Devanagari Hindi as well. The English title of this old Amitabh poster is seen written in red, highlighted by an black border in a wavy unequal 3D font.

The soundtrack album of Barsaat Ki Ek Raat (1981) was composed by music maestro R.D. Burman, while lyrics were written by Anand Bakshi. It featured the blockbuster hit songs, “Apne Pyar Ke Sapne Sach Huye” sung by Lata Mangeshkar & Kishore Kumar, “Kaliram Ka Dhol” sung by Kishore Kumar and “Manchali O Manchali” sung by Kishore Kumar & Asha Bhosle.