Daag: A Poem of Love

Successful movie posters for sale: Daag: A Poem of Love (1973).

Featured here is an actual surviving vintage Bollywood poster of the old 1973 blockbuster Hindi film produced and directed by the “King of Bollywood Romance” Yash Chopra that starred Rajesh Khanna, Sharmila Tagore and Raakhee in key roles.

An adaptation of “The Mayor of Casterbridge,” a famous novel written by Thomas Hardy in 1886, Daag (1973) also starred Madan Puri, Kader Khan, A.K. Hangal, Prem Chopra, Manmohan Krishna, Achala Sachdev, Iftekhar, Hari Shivdasani, Jagdish Raj and Padma Khanna in supporting roles.

Daag (1973) marked the debut of Yash Chopra as producer, laying the foundation of Yash Raj Films which would go on to become the biggest production house in Indian cinema. Yash Chopra won Best Director for the film at the 21st Filmfare Awards, making this successful movie poster, highly collectible!

Printed and circulated during a subsequent release of the film (somewhere in the 1970s), this old Daag movie poster was designed for publicity of the film’s successful 100 day run in north Indian theaters but never ended up being used.

Originally hand painted on canvas by a Bollywood poster art studio in Delhi called Gulati Arts, this vintage Rajesh Khanna movie poster features quirky artwork.

A waist length hand drawn illustration of the three lead actors is seen prominently in this Daag movie poster. Superstar Rajesh Khanna is seen at the center flanked by the two actresses. He is seen in a side hug with actress Sharmila Tagore, who appears on the left. Raakhee is seen on the right of this successful movie poster. The names of the actors are seen above each portrait respectively, written in white inside red labels. The entire artwork is encased in a navy blue frame in the background.

The film’s successful completion of it’s 100th day in theaters is announced on the top with the number 100 appearing in large yellow font. Typography used in this old Daag movie poster is primarily in English, with a translation of the title appearing prominently in Devanagari Hindi as well.

The soundtrack album of Daag: A Poem of Love (1973) was composed by hit duo Laxmikant-Pyarelal, while lyrics were written by Sahir Ludhianvi. It featured the timeless classic, “Mere Dil Mein Aaj Kya Hai” sung by legendary playback singer Kishore Kumar. A duet from the film was also extremely popular during it’s release: “Ab Chahe Ma Roothe Yaa Baba” sung by Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar.