Naya Daur

Naya Daur movie poster for sale.

Featured here is an actual surviving old Bollywood poster of the 1957 cult Hindi patriotic film produced and directed by B.R. Chopra that starred Dilip Kumar and Vyjayanthimala in lead roles.

Presented under B.R. Chopra’s prestigious B.R. Films banner, Naya Daur (1957) also starred Ajit, Chand Usmani, Jeevan, Johnny Walker, Nazir Hussain, Manmohan Krishna, Leela Chitnis, Minoo Mumtaz, Kumkum, Pratima Devi, Daisy Irani and Radhakrishan in supporting roles.

Set in a poor rural village, Naya Daur (1957) told the story of two best friends Shankar (Dilip Kumar) and Krishna (Ajit) who fall in love with the same woman (Vyjayanthimala). The love triangle unfolds in parallel with the dawn of a new technological era (Naya Daur) that threatens to take away the livelihoods of both Shankar and Krishna. Shankar is a horse carriage driver who is self-employed, while Krishna is a lumberjack employed at a wood factory owned by philanthropist Seth Maganlal (Nazir Hussain). Seth is a socialist who believes in fair employment and treating workers as human beings and not as expendable assets to be exploited for financial gain. Under Seth’s leadership, even workers who have grown old and close to retirement are allowed to continue working at the factory, no matter how slow and inefficient their output is. However, once Seth retires, his son Kundan (Jeevan) arrives from the city with a strong capitalist mindset to exploit the natural resources of the land in the most mechanized and efficient manner as possible. He introduces the chainsaw as a replacement for the traditional axes used by lumberjacks. This leads to a tremendous boost in speed and efficiency, reducing the need for manual labor. As such, the factory no longer needs the same number of lumberjacks and begins layoffs. Kundan then turns his focus on improving connectivity, introducing a bus for the first time in the village where horse carriages (tongas) have long been the only mode of transport. Shankar’s only source of sustenance is threatened, starting a war between man and machine.

Upon its original black and white release in 1957, Naya Daur was a tremendous success at the box office and became the second highest grossing film of 1957 behind the critically acclaimed Mother India. Naya Daur’s massive success and cult following over the years prompted an effort to colorize the film. It was colorized and re-released in 2007.

Printed and circulated during a subsequent release run of the film (somewhere in the 1970s/1980s), this Naya Daur movie poster was designed for publicity of the film in theaters but never ended up being used.

This vintage Bollywood poster was originally designed in hand painted oil on canvas format by leading Bombay based artist Shrikant, who is credited on the bottom left of the poster.

Lead actor Dilip Kumar is seen prominently in a striking full figure illustration in the foreground holding an Indian shovel in his raised hand. A stunning close up of actress Vyjayanthimala smiling is seen in the background of this Naya Daur movie poster. The backdrop used is minimal, with a suggestion of rural elements such as a single tree amidst a field under an open sky.

Typography used in this old Bollywood poster is entirely in Devanagari Hindi, except for a translation of the title in English at the center. The main Devanagari Hindi title is seen in purple, accentuated with a yellow and sky blue border.

Naya Daur (1957) was involved in a highly controversial and widely publicized court case during its production. Initially, actress Madhubala was cast as the female lead and had been given an advance payment for the role. She was later sued by B.R. Chopra for the advance received as her apprehensions of traveling to outdoor locations where the film was to be shot had stalled the film. B.R. Chopra replaced Madhubala with actress Vyjayanthimala and the film went on to become a tremendous success.

The film opened with Mahatma Gandhi’s famous quote, “We are all leaves of a majestic tree whose trunk cannot be shaken off its roots, which are deep down in the bowels of the earth. In this there is no room for machines that would displace human labour and would concentrate power in a few hands. Labour has its unique place in a cultured human family … Dead machinery must not be pitted against the millions of living machines represented by the villagers scattered in the seven hundred thousand villages of India. Machinery to be well used has to help and ease human effort …”

The soundtrack album of Naya Daur (1957) was composed by music maestro O.P. Nayyar, while lyrics were penned by Sahir Ludhianvi. Songs from the film became a rage throughout the country, instilling national pride in people’s minds. The song, “Yeh Desh Hai Veer Jawanon Ka” sung by Mohammed Rafi is regarded as an all time classic and is fondly remembered and played till today. Another song, “Saathi Haath Badhana” sung by Mohammed Rafi went on to become a chart topper as well.