Nav Durga

Bollywood vintage posters for sale: Nav Durga (1953).

This is an actual surviving rare vintage original Bollywood poster of the 1953 mythological Hindi film that starred Usha Kiran, Mahipal and Sulochana Chatterjee in lead roles.

Produced by Wadia Brothers and released under Homi Wadia’s Basant Pictures banner, Nav Durga was directed by the pioneer of special effects in Indian cinema, Babubhai Mistry.

The film was based on the nine avatars of Goddess Durga as per Hindu mythology, namely Shailputri, Brahmcharini, Chandraghanta, Kushmanda, Skandmata, Katyayani, Kaalratri, Mahagauri, and Siddhidatri.

Printed and circulated during the first release of the film in theaters (somewhere in the 1950s), this rare Bollywood vintage poster was printed for publicity of the film but never ended up being used.

This Nav Durga poster was originally designed in hand painted oil on canvas format by a movie poster design studio in Bombay. The printed signature of Bollywood poster painter D.G. Pradhan is seen on the bottom right of the poster.

Set in a motif prominently on the top, Goddess Durga is seen at the center slaying Mahishasura with a trishul (trident). A severed buffalo head is seen below. Stunning illustrated close ups of lead actors Mahipal and Usha Kiran are seen at the bottom of this Bollywood vintage poster.

Lettering used in this poster is entirely in Devanagari Hindi, with a translation of the title seen in English at the top. The main Hindi title appears in blue with a dashed yellow border at the bottom.

The soundtrack album of Nav Durga was composed by S.N. Tripathi and featured gems like, “Aai Bahar Kiye Solah Singar Sakhi” sung by Geeta Dutt and “Chham Chham Naache” sung by Geeta Dutt and Mohammad Rafi.