Papi Pet Ka Sawal Hai

Handmade film posters for sale: Papi Pet Ka Sawal Hai (1984).

Featured here is an actual surviving vintage Bollywood poster of the 1984 Hindi film produced and directed by Sohanlal Kanwar that starred superstar Rajesh Khanna and Shatrughan Sinha in key roles.

Presented under the Filmnagar banner, Papi Pet Ka Sawal Hai (1984) also starred Jaya Prada, Rati Agnihotri, Tina Ambani, Kanwaljit Singh, Mazhar Khan, Bharat Kapoor, Birbal, Om Shivpuri and Pinchoo Kapoor in supporting roles.

Inspired by the massive success of superstar Rajesh Khanna’s Roti (1974), Papi Pet Ka Sawal Hai (1984), which was released a decade after, featured him as “Rotiwala” (Breadman).

Mohan (Rajesh Khanna) is orphaned at an early age after his mother is gang raped and killed by four mafia lords. His traumatic childhood keeps haunting him throughout his adult life. He becomes a monkey handler (madari) and does street performances along with his companion Radha (Jaya Prada). The two struggle to make ends meet and live in a slum, which is set on fire by a mafia syndicate in order to usurp the land for redevelopment. Mohan turns into a crusader for the downtrodden by using the secret identity of “Rotiwala.” He threatens each member of the mafia syndicate with dire consequences by a leaving a note written on a roti, striking fear in their hearts. Mohan is able to extort large sums of ransom money, which he then distributes to the poor in his slum. Police inspector Ram (Kanwaljit Singh) is assigned to the case and he sets out to nab “Rotiwala.” One of the members of the cartel, Chamanlal (Om Shivpuri) owns a mill that exploits its workers. After Chamanlal pays paltry compensation to a worker maimed on the job, his honest son Arjun (Shatrughan Sinha), who is the legal advisor of his father’s mill, decides to fight against the injustice in court. However, Arjun loses the case and is expelled by his father. He decides to align with the mill workers who are being exploited by his evil father. However, Arjun is framed in the murder of the mill’s union leader (Mazhar Khan). Mohan now realizes that the four mafia syndicate members he is fighting are the same men who gangraped and killed his mom and begins to exact his revenge.

Printed and circulated during a subsequent release of the film (somewhere in the 1980s), this old Bollywood poster was originally designed for publicity of the film in north Indian theaters but never ended up being used.

This Papi Pet Ka Sawal Hai movie poster was originally designed in hand painted oil on canvas format by a Bollywood poster art studio in Delhi and features quirky artwork.

Superstar Rajesh Khanna is seen in a large close up drawing on the right holding a bloody dagger. Actress Tina Ambani is depicted from a sexual assault scene in the film at the center, while large hand painted close ups of Shatrughan Sinha and Om Shivpuri are seen on the left. Actress Jaya Prada is illustrated on the top left, while a mother holding a hungry child in her arms is depicted at the center. Actor Rajesh Khanna appears hand drawn in a fight scene on the top right of this handmade film poster.

The background is a mix of orange and yellow on the top half, while the center appears in purple and the bottom in black. Typography used in this Rajesh Khanna film poster is entirely in Devanagari Hindi, with the title appearing in mixed font styles using different shades for each phrase.

The soundtrack album of Papi Pet Ka Sawal Hai (1984) was composed by popular duo Shankar-Jaikishan. The title song “Papi Pet Ka Sawal Hai” sung by Lata Mangeshkar and Kishore Kumar became popular at the time of the film’s release.