Howrah Bridge

Howrah Bridge movie poster for sale.

Featured here is a rare vintage original Bollywood poster of the hit Hindi crime thriller, Howrah Bridge (1958).

Directed by Shakti Samanta, the film starred Ashok Kumar in the lead role opposite the most beautiful actress in Indian cinema of all time, the “Marilyn Monroe of Bollywood,” Madhubala.

K. N. Singh, Madan Puri, Om Prakash, Dhumal, Sunder, Kammo, Chaman Puri, Mehmood, Minoo Mumtaz and Helen played supporting roles in the film.

Howrah Bridge was a major critical and commercial success. Two songs from its soundtrack album, “Mera Naam Chin Chin Chu” sung by Geeta Dutt featuring Helen and “Aaiye Meherbaan” sung by Asha Bhosle picturized on Madhubala, became a rage throughout the nation and are played till today.

Helen, only 19 at the time, shot to fame after her stellar dance performance in “Mera Naam Chin Chin Chu.” Madhubala’s role as cabaret dancer “Edna” is fondly remembered as one of her most memorable, making this Howrah Bridge movie poster, highly collectible!

Printed and circulated during the release run of the film in theaters (somewhere in the the 1960s), this vintage Bollywood poster was originally designed for publicity of the film but never ended up being used.

The artwork of this Madhubala poster was originally designed in hand painted oil on canvas format by a poster design studio in Bombay. The printed signature of artist Manohar Suresh is seen on the top right of this Howrah Bridge movie poster.

Ashok Kumar is seen in a superbly illustrated portrait on the right wearing a trench coat and a hat, carrying a pistol in his hand. A large close up of actress Madhubala is seen alongside. Both actors are seen smoking a cigarette, making this one of the rare Bollywood posters of its era that featured a woman smoking a cigarette.

The iconic Howrah Bridge of Kolkata is seen on the top of this Madhubala poster for sale. The typography used in this Howrah Bridge movie poster is completely in English with a translation of the title appearing at the top in Devanagari Hindi. A smaller hand painted portrait of actor Om Prakash is seen on the bottom left of this old Bollywood poster.

The soundtrack of the film was composed by legendary Bollywood music composer O.P. Nayyar.