Pukar

Old Bollywood movies poster for sale: Pukar (1939).

Featured here is an actual surviving original vintage Bollywood poster of the 1939 historical social drama produced and directed by Sohrab Modi that starred him in the lead role along with Chandra Mohan and Naseem Banu (actress Saira Banu’s mother).

Produced at Sohrab Merwanji Modi’s prestigious Minerva Movietone studio, Pukar (1939) also starred Sheela, Sardar Akhtar, Sadiq Ali, Jill, Maya Devi, Shakir, Sadat, Ghulam Hussein, Kusum, Ram Apte and G.M. Dass in supporting roles.

The film’s screenplay, dialogues and songs were written by Kamal Amrohi, credited as S. Ameer Hyder “Kamal” in the opening credits of the film, who would later go on to become the founder of Kamalistan Studio in Bombay and one of the most successful filmmakers in Indian cinema.

Based on a historical story written by Vishnupant Aundhkar, Pukar (1939) is the earliest Muslim social drama made in Indian cinema, making this old Bollywood movies poster, highly collectible!

Printed and circulated during a subsequent release of the film in theaters (somewhere in the 1960s), this Pukar movie poster was originally designed for publicity of the film but never ended up being used.

This historical movies poster was originally designed in hand painted oil on canvas format and features striking artwork.

Three illustrated close up portraits of the lead actors Sohrab Modi, Chandra Mohan and Naseem Banu are seen in visible brush strokes and contrasting colors. Actor Chandra Mohan who plays Mughal emperor Jahangir is seen with a rose in his hand romancing Naseem Banu, who plays princess Nur Jahan (Jahangir’s twentieth wife). A dramatic portrait of Sohrab Modi is seen below painted in green, in his character of Sardar Sangram Singh.

An illustration on the top depicts a woman pulling a rope to sound a large bell. A bright shade of yellow is used in the background of this old Bollywood movies poster. Typography used in this Pukar movie poster is primarily in English with only a translation of the title seen in Devanagari Hindi. The English title appears in striking red font, while the Devanagari Hindi title is seen in blue. Both titles stand out against the yellow background.

The soundtrack album of Pukar (1939) was composed by Meer Saheb.