Bangla film poster for sale: Kankabatir Ghat (1955).
Featured here is an actual surviving old Bengali cinema poster of the 1955 black and white drama directed by Chitta Bose that starred the biggest superstar of Bengal, Uttam Kumar opposite Sandhyarani.
Produced by Harindranath Chattopadhyay under his HNC Productions banner, Kankabatir Ghat (1955) also starred Kamal Mitra, Chandrabati Devi, Ahindra Chowdhury, Anubha Gupta, Anup Kumar, Shyam Laha, Master Babua and Santosh Singha in supporting roles.
Written by Mahendra Gupta, Kankabatir Ghat (1955) told the story of two star-crossed lovers, a rich aristocrat called Ravi (Uttam Kumar) and a poor girl called Sheela (Sandhyarani). The two come together despite glaring differences in their social standing. However, their union is short lived. When Ravi learns that Sheela is the daughter of a woman of ill repute, he abandons her. To move on from the tragedy and overcome his loneliness, Ravi marries another woman. Years later, a young boy hawking on the street comes in front of their car suddenly. Ravi and his wife take the boy home and take care of him. When they return to reunite him with his mother, Ravi is shocked to know that the boy is his own son with Sheela. Guilt and grief begin to eat away at Ravi’s heart, landing him on his deathbed. To save her dying husband, Sheela commits Sati (self-sacrifice) by walking into the river Ganga.
Printed and circulated during the release run of the film in Kolkata theaters (somewhere in the 1960s), this old Bangla film poster was designed for publicity of the film but never ended up being used.
This Kankabatir Ghat poster was originally designed in hand drawn format by a poster design studio in Kolkata and features striking artwork.
A closeup illustration of superstar Uttam Kumar is seen in purple, while a smaller rendition of actress Sandhyarani seen below in red. The entire poster uses this two color combination, giving it a very vintage look.
Typography used in this old Uttam Kumar Bangla film poster is entirely in Bengali, with the title appearing in a very creatively designed wavy font in white with a sharp purple border. The artwork stands out in stark contrast against the minimal white background.
The soundtrack album of Kankabatir Ghat (1955) was composed by Kalipada Sen, while lyrics were written by Arup Bhattacharya.
