Nazrana

Nazrana poster for sale.

Featured here is an original vintage Bollywood poster of the old 1961 black and white romantic drama directed by C.V. Sridhar that starred Raj Kapoor, Vyjayanthimala and Usha Kiran in key roles.

Produced by S. Krishnamurthy and released under the Venus Pictures (Madras) banner, Nazrana (1961) also starred Gemini Ganesan, Agha, Sabita Chatterjee, Achala Sachdev and Master Shahid in supporting roles.

A remake of C.V. Sridhar’s previous Tamil film Kalyana Parisu (1959), Nazrana (1961) was a love triangle. The film told the story of Raj (Raj Kapoor) and Basanti (Vyjayanthimala) who fall in love with each other while in college. However, things take a turn when Raj rents a room above their house and subsequently falls ill. Basanti’s elder sister Geeta (Usha Kiran) takes care of him and in the process falls in love with him. She confesses her love for Raj to Basanti, who decides to sacrifice her love and convinces Raj to marry Geeta. Reluctantly, Raj marries Geeta and they have a son together. However, he is not able to forget Basanti. Geeta soon gets wind of their love for each other and forces Basanti to leave the house. Later, realization dawns on her that she is responsible for destroying Raj and Basanti lives. Geeta dies of shame and guilt, making Raj promise that he will make Basanti her child’s mother. However, when Raj meets Basanti it is too late. She is already married to her ex-boss Shyam (Gemini Ganeshan).

Printed and circulated during a subsequent release run of the film (somewhere in the 1960s/1970s), this Nazrana poster was designed for publicity of the film in north Indian theaters but never ended up being used.

This old Bollywood poster was originally designed in hand painted oil on canvas format by a Delhi based poster art studio.

Raj Kapoor and Vyjayanthimala are seen in a stunning over painted illustration at the top of this vintage Bollywood poster. The romantic still is taken from the hit song, “Bikhra Ke Zulfen Chaman Mein.”

Two passport sized close up hand painted portraits of Usha Kiran and Agha appear on the bottom left and right respectively of this old Raj Kapoor poster. A soothing shade of leaf green is used in the background.

Typography appears predominantly in Devanagari Hindi, while the bottom is entirely in English. The titles are seen in striking yellow and red colours, which stand out against the background of this Nazrana poster.

This Vyjayanthimala poster capitalizes on the success of the soundtrack album of the film by announcing lyrics of three hit songs on the top: “Bikhrake Zulfen Chaman Mein Na Jana – Kyon?,” “Ek Woh Bhi Diwali Thi, Ek Ye Bhi Diwali Hai, Ujda Hua Gulshan Hai, Rota Hua Maali Hai” and “Baazi Kisi Ne Pyar Ki Jeeti Ya Haar Di …”

The soundtrack album of Nazrana (1961) was composed by by Ravi, while lyrics were written by Rajendra Krishan. The film has to its credit three hit songs, “Baazi Kisi Ne Pyar Ki Jeeti Ya Haar Di” sung by Mohammed Rafi, “Bikhrake Zulfen Chaman Mein Na Jana” sung by Mukesh & Lata Mangeshkar and “Ek Woh Bhi Diwali Thi” sung by Mukesh.

Nazrana (1961) was remade in Turkish as Küçük Sevgilim (1971).