Bengali poster for wall: Jamalaye Jibanta Manush (1958).
Featured here is an actual surviving vintage Bengali cinema poster of the 1958 black and white fantasy comedy drama directed by Prafulla Chakraborty that starred Bhanu Bandyopadhyay (Bhanu Banerjee), Basabi Nandi, Kamal Mitra and Jahor Roy in key roles.
Produced by Rajkumari Chitramandir, Jamalaye Jibanta Manush (1958) also starred Tulsi Chakraborty, Chhabi Biswas, Pahari Sanyal, Nitish Mukhopadhyay, Aparna Devi, Shila Pal, Nripati Chattopadhyay, Ajit Chattopadhyay, Shyam Laha, Haridhan Mukhopadhyay and Gour Shee in supporting roles.
Based on a novel of the same name written by noted Bengali author Dinabandhu Mitra, Jamalaye Jibanta Manush (1958) told the story of poor villager Sidhu (Bhanu Banerjee) who falls in love with Madhuri (Basabi Nandi), the rich daughter of village head Hari (Chhabi Biswas). When Sidhu arrives at Hari’s house to ask for his daughter’s hand in marriage, he is humiliated and turned down. Despite Hari’s opposition, Sidhu and Madhuri decide to get married. When Hari learns about the wedding, he is furious and arrives at the wedding with his henchmen. He declares the wedding as unlawful and forcibly takes Madhuri home, ordering his henchmen to beat Sidhu and throw him into the river. Upon reaching home, Madhuri presumes Sidhu has been killed and commits suicide. Sidhu however, is not dead and is mistakenly taken to hell while he is still alive. He launches a revolution against the god of death Yamraj (Kamal Mitra) and his accountant Chitragupta (Jahor Roy), driving them out of hell. Vishnu (The preserver) has to step in along with his consort Lakshmi to return Sidhu back to earth along with his beloved Madhuri.
Printed and circulated during the release run of the film in Kolkata theaters (somewhere in the 1960s), this old Bengali poster was designed for publicity of the film but never ended up being used.
This Jamalaye Jibanta Manush poster was originally designed in hand drawn format by a poster design studio in Kolkata and features striking artwork.
A closeup illustration of actress Basabi Nandi is seen prominently on the right, while a smaller hand drawn monochrome rendition of actor Bhanu Banerjee appears on the left. The size of Bhanu Banerjee’s head is much larger than his body, giving away the comedy genre of the film.
The background, painted in a stunning shade of red, shows an illustration of heaven. Yamraj (Kamal Mitra) and his accountant Chitragupta (Jahor Roy) are seen in hand drawn portraits in the background on the top of this Jamalaye Jibanta Manush poster.
Typography used in this vintage cinema poster for wall is entirely in Bengali, with the title standing out against a yellow background. The artwork uses a combination of yellow and red, giving it a very eye catching appearance.
The soundtrack album of Jamalaye Jibanta Manush (1958) was composed by Shyamal Mitra, while lyrics were written by Hiren Bose, Gouriprasanna Majumdar and Ananda Chakraborty.
