Pyar Ki Jeet

Handmade posters for sale: Pyar Ki Jeet (1987).

Featured here is an actual surviving vintage Bollywood poster of the 1987 Hindi drama produced and directed by Saawan Kumar Tak that starred Rekha in the lead role opposite Vinod Mehra.

Presented by G.P. Agarwal and released under the Mercury Productions International banner, Pyar Ki Jeet (1987) also starred Shashi Kapoor, Ashok Kumar, Jagdeep, Pinchoo Kapoor and Bharat Kapoor in supporting roles. Moon Moon Sen, Puneet Issar and Raj Joshi made special appearances in the film.

Pyar Ki Jeet (1987) told the story of two medical college batchmates with opposing ideologies. Dr. Kumar (Ashok Kumar) is a capitalist with dreams to make it big. He starts his private practice and becomes a highly sought after brain surgeon with his own state of the art hospital. Dr. Rehman (Shashi Kapoor) on the other hand believes medicine shouldn’t be exploited for personal gain but rather be used for serving mankind. He starts a small practice in a remote village that has no medical facilities or doctors. When Dr. Kumar’s son, Dr. Anand (Vinod Mehra) finishes his education, he wants to start a state of the art hospital for him. Dr. Rehman has been researching on a revolutionary cure for asthma and Dr. Kumar wants to purchase the same so that he can patent it and exploit it to make millions. To convince Dr. Rehman to sell the cure, he sends his son Dr. Anand to negotiate on his behalf. When Dr. Anand arrives at the remote village, he is mistaken by Dr. Rehman for a new apprentice who wants to join his practice and lessen his 16 hours-a-day workload. Before Dr. Anand can reveal his true identity, Dr. Rehman suffers a small heart attack due to his selfless and stressful lifestyle. Sympathizing with his condition, Dr. Anand takes up the job and doesn’t reveal the real reason he came to see him. In the village, he meets a charming young woman called Soni (Rekha) with the most sullied reputation. Villagers suspect she goes to the city to prostitute herself and comes back with a lot of money each time. In reality, Soni goes to sell hand embroidered clothes in the city and is making an honest living. She has a tragic past. Abducted by bandits during her wedding day, she spends an entire night in their hideout before finally being rescued by police. Her fiance (Puneet Issar) suspects she has been raped and refuses to marry her. After the wedding is called off, he tries to rape her but Soni raises an alarm and flees. At the village court, he convinces the elders that Soni has started a business of prostitution and she is deemed an outcast. Upon meeting the young and dashing Dr. Anand, Soni tries everything to woo him but fails each time. When Dr. Anand learns Soni’s true story and the truth about rumors surrounding her reputation from Dr. Rehman, he begins to reciprocate her love. Although recalled to the city by his father Dr. Kumar to open up his own state of the art hospital, Dr. Anand has a change of heart and returns to the remote village to selflessly serve the poor along with Dr. Rehman. Furious with his son’s decision, Dr. Kumar excommunicates him from his will and vows never to see him again. However, things take a tragic turn when Dr. Anand suffers a brain hemorrhage and needs complicated surgery before it’s too late. The only doctor in India who can perform such a surgery is his father Dr. Kumar but Dr. Anand refuses to seek help from him. A similar surgery in the UK would cost Rs. 1 lakh and when Dr. Rehman tells Soni about the same, she decides to sell her virginity to an evil landlord Jagirdar (Bharat Kapoor). However, when Dr. Rehman and the villagers get to know, they land up at his mansion to stop the deal. At the same time, Dr. Kumar arrives to save his son. All end’s well when he gets his son Dr. Anand married to Soni and changes plans to start a state of the art hospital in the village instead of the city.

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

This vintage Bollywood poster was originally designed in oil on canvas format by a Bollywood poster art studio in Delhi and features striking artwork.

The lead couple Vinod Mehra and Rekha are seen in a brilliant hand painted rendition taken from a popular song in the film, “Mujhe Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein, Kiraya Bol Kya Legi?” sung by Kishore Kumar and Asha Bhosle. Lyrics of the song are seen written on the top, “Mein Hoon Angoor Ki Bet, Sar Chadi Toh Na Utroongi” (English translation: I am the Daughter of Grapes, If I Give You a High You Won’t Sober Down.)”

True to the lyrics of the song, Rekha appears dangling a bunch of grapes in her hand while pouring wine from a flask into a glass held by Vinod Mehra. Typography used in this handmade poster is entirely in Devanagari Hindi. The title of the film is illustrated in red with a yellow border. The background used in this old Bollywood poster depicts a palatial setting, with hand drawn shining stars in the sky.

The soundtrack album of Pyar Ki Jeet (1987) was composed by Usha Khanna. It featured the popular title song, “Aaj Mere Pyar Ki Jeet Ho Jane Do” sung by Asha Bhosle.