Chori Chori

Chori Chori poster for sale.

Featured here is a rare surviving original vintage Bollywood poster of the old 1956 hit romantic comedy directed by Anant Thakur that featured the Showman of Indian cinema, Raj Kapoor in the lead role opposite Nargis.

Chori Chori (1956) was inspired from the Hollywood cult classic starring Clark Gable, It Happened One Night (1934), which was the first film to win all five major Academy Awards.

Produced by Madras-based AVM Productions, Chori Chori (1956) was the production house’s first attempt at color, with a few of its iconic songs shot and released in Technicolor. It also featured Pran, Gope, David, Mukri and Bhagwan Dada in supporting roles, while Johnny Walker, Neelam and Maruti made a guest appearance.

Chori Chori (1956) was the last film that featured the hit pair of Nargis and Raj Kapoor together in lead roles, making this vintage Bollywood poster, highly collectible.

After Chori Chori (1956), Nargis would go on to appear in one final Raj Kapoor film, i.e. Jagte Raho (1956), albeit in a cameo role.

Printed and circulated during the film’s release run in theaters (somewhere in the late 1950s), this Raj Kapoor movie poster was designed and printed for publicity of the film but never ended up being used.

This Chori Chori poster was originally designed in hand painted oil on canvas format by a poster design studio in Madras. The printed signature of the artist in the name of his art studio is seen on the center right.

A stunning hand drawn portrait of Nargis leaning on Raj Kapoor’s shoulder is seen on the top. A photographic still of actor Pran tinted in green to reflect his negative character is seen below.

The portraits of the lead couple appear in deep contrasting colors. A yellow border accentuates the illustration, making the artwork stand out against the minimal white background. A sky blue border encases the artwork like a photo frame.

Typography used in this Chori Chori poster is entirely Devanagari Hindi, with a translation of the title seen in English as well as in Tamil. The main Hindi title is seen illustrated in red, sharply contrasting against a black strip in the background.

The soundtrack album of Chori Chori (1956) was composed by the leading composer duo of their time, Shankar Jaikishan. It was a blockbuster hit upon it’s release and is credited with giving Indian cinema unforgettable tracks such as: “Yeh Raat Bheegi Bheegi, Yeh Mast Fizayen,” “Aaja Sanam Madhur Chandni Mein Hum” and “Jahan Main Jaati Hoon, Wahi Chale Aate Ho” all sung by Lata Mangeshkar & Manna Dey and “Panchhi Banoon, Udti Phiroon” sung by Lata Mangeshkar.

For their stellar music arrangement in Chori Chori (1956), Shankar Jaikishan won the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director. It is believed that the duo adapted the tune of the traditional Italian folk song, “Tarantella Napoletana” for “Aaja Sanam Madhur Chandni Mein.”

The film was originally released only partly in color and the remaining in black and white. In 2013, it was remastered entirely and colourised.

Chori Chori (1956) inspired an unofficial remake in 1991 called “Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin” directed by Mahesh Bhatt, starring Aamir Khan and Pooja Bhatt.