Phaansi

Drawing movie poster for sale: Phaansi (1978).

Featured here is an original vintage Bollywood poster of the 1978 Hindi action drama produced and directed by Harmesh Malhotra that starred Shashi Kapoor, Sulakshana Pandit, Pran and Ranjeet in key roles.

Released under the Eastern Films banner, Phaansi (1978) also starred Asrani, Jeevan, Iftekhar, Aruna Irani, Urmila Bhatt, Sudhir, Sapru, Mohan Choti, Birbal and M.B. Shetty (Muddu Babu Shetty) in supporting roles.

Phaansi (1978) borrowed it’s premise from the blockbuster curry Western, Sholay (1975). It told the story of dreaded dacoit leader Tilak Singh (Ranjeet), who has a dozen murders to his name and is being hunted by police in three different states. He carries a bounty of 1,50,000 rupees on his head. At one time, Tilak Singh was a henchman of Thakur Himmat Singh (Pran), who surrendered arms after being convicted by his conscience. When police inspector Raju (Shashi Kapoor) is heading to his village for his sister’s wedding in a train, Tilak Singh and his gang of armed bandits launch an attack. Raju heroically fights the bandits and foils the raid, grievously injuring one of Tilak Singh’s henchmen in the process. Seething with revenge, Tilak Singh vows to track down Raju and eliminate him. Raju is in love with village girl Chhaya (Sulakshana Pandit) and the two get engaged, much to the envy of rich merchant Lala (Jeevan), who is lusting after her. When the district collector of the area learns of Raju’s bravery, a commemoration ceremony is announced to felicitate him and news of the same spreads throughout the village. Lala betrays his village by tipping off Tilak Singh that the man who murdered his henchmen and foiled his train raid is none other than Raju, the son of Mahendra Pratap Singh (Iftekhar). Tilak Singh arrives with his gang of dacoits to Raju’s house, who is away planning his sister’s wedding. He ruthlessly hangs Raju’s father Mahendra Pratap Singh and rapes Raju’s sister who commits suicide. When Raju returns home to find his father and sister dead, he vows to avenge their deaths by killing Tilak Singh. In the meantime Thakur Himmat Singh, who has given up banditry and is now making a fresh start to an honest life arrives in the village. In Raju’s absence, he fends off Tilak Singh single-handedly. A cat and mouse game begins as both Raju and Tilak Singh being looking for each other to exact revenge. Thakur Himmat Singh sides with Raju and helps him avenge the deaths of his family members as well as rid the village of oppression. His method however, is to help reform the bandits just as he himself has, and bring them back to living an honest life.

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

This vintage Phaansi poster was originally designed in hand painted oil on canvas format by a Bollywood poster design studio in Delhi.

Quirky hand drawn close ups of actors Shashi Kapoor, Sulakshana Pandit, Pran, Ranjeet and Asrani are seen in this drawing movie poster. The faces appear inside a hangman’s noose, giving away the theme of the film. The faces are interwoven together, signifying the overlap in their lives.

Typography used in this drawing movie poster is partly in Devanagari Hindi as well as in English, with the title appearing in Urdu as well. The main English title is seen in a hangman’s rope font in yellow at the bottom of this old Bollywood poster.

The soundtrack album of Phaansi was composed by legendary music director duo Laxmikant Pyarelal. One of the songs from the film, “Humari Bekaraar Si Nazar” sung by Lata Mangeshkar became popular at the time of the film’s release.