Poonam Ki Raat

Vintage Bollywood horror movies poster for sale: Poonam Ki Raat (1965).

Featured here is an actual surviving Indian cinema poster of the 1965 black and white Hindi horror thriller written, produced and directed by Kishore Sahu that starred Manoj Kumar, Kishore Sahu, Rajendra Nath and Parveen Choudhary in key roles.

Released under the Kishore Sahu Productions banner, Poonam Ki Raat (1965) also starred Nandini, Shiv Kumar, Kumud Chhugani, Prem Chopra, Leela Mishra, D.K. Sapru, Bela Bose, Raj Kishore, Rabindra Banerjee, Jankidas, Thelma, Gope Raj and Sailesh Kumar in supporting roles.

Poonam Ki Raat (1965) told the story of a mysterious haunting in an old mansion. The spirit of a beautiful young woman called Rani who was reportedly murdered on a full moon night haunts an old mansion. The mansion is owed by Lala Baijnath (D.K. Sapru) and he is assumed by people to be Rani’s killer. One day Lala becomes ill and his family sends their caretaker’s son Sumer Singh (Rajendra Nath) to fetch Lala’s son Chandan (Shiv Kumar), who is on an educational college camping trip. Upon hearing the news, Chandan requests his college classmate Prakash (Manoj Kumar) to accompany him for support. Before reaching the mansion, Prakash hears about the legend that the mansion is haunted by the spirit of a woman killed by none other than Chandan’s father. He is introduced to Chandan’s sisters, Jyoti (Kumud Chhugani) and Nandini (Nandini). In the dead of the night, Prakash begins to hear the supposed spirit of Rani singing and is captivated by her. As the plot unfolds, the mystery about Rani’s identity and her death deepens.

Printed and circulated subsequent to the first release of the film (somewhere in the late 1960s), this Poonam Ki Raat poster was designed and printed for publicity of the film in north Indian theaters but never ended up being used.

This vintage Bollywood horror movies poster was originally designed in hand painted oil on canvas format by poster artist Ranjeet at Gulati Arts studio Delhi. The artist’s printed signature is seen on the bottom right of this Poonam Ki Raat movie poster.

A stunning hand drawn illustration of Manoj Kumar and Kumud Chhugani in a romantic pose is seen dominating this old Bollywood poster. A black cat with red eyes is seen crawling on the top left, giving away the genre of the film. True to the film’s title, a full moon night is illustrated on the top right. Comedian Rajendra Nath is seen in drag lying down in a hilarious hand painted rendition at the bottom of this vintage Bollywood horror movies poster.

Typography used in this old Indian horror poster is primarily in English, with the title translated to both Devanagari Hindi as well as Urdu, appearing in a striking shade of yellow against a black as well as blue background. The Adult rating of the film is indicated with a capitalized A drawn inside a circle at the bottom of this Poonam Ki Raat poster.

The soundtrack album of Poonam Ki Raat (1965) was composed by Salil Chowdhury. The title track, “Saathi Re Tujh Bin Jiya Udaas Re” sung by Lata Mangeshkar was very popular at the time of the film’s release as were duets such as “Sapno Me Mere Koi Aaye Jaye” sung by Lata, Usha Mangeshkar & Mukesh and “Tum Kaha Le Chale Ho Sajan Albele” sung by Lata Mangeshkar and Mukesh.