Raaton Ka Raja

Raaton Ka Raja poster for sale.

Featured here is an original vintage Bollywood poster of the old 1970 Hindi heist drama co-written, produced and directed by Rajesh Nahta that starred debutant Dheeraj Kumar in the titular role as master thief “Raaton Ka Raja.”

Released under the Ranglok Productions banner, Raaton Ka Raja (1970) also featured Shatrughan Sinha, Jeevan, Vaishali, Rajendra Nath, Jayshree Talpade, Harindranath Chattopadhyay, Gajanan Jagirdar, Hercules and Vitthal in supporting roles.

Raaton Ka Raja (1970) told the story of a Hitler-like crime lord (Jeevan) who wants to spread anarchy and unrest in the country. To fund his nefarious plan, he orders for a priceless 5,000 year old statue called Anarkali which is part of national treasure to be stolen. A master thief called “Raaton Ka Raja” (Dheeraj Kumar) is enlisted to pull off the daring heist.

Printed and circulated subsequent to the first release of the film (somewhere in the 1970s), this vintage Bollywood poster was issued for publicity of the film in north Indian theaters but never ended up being used.

This Raaton Ka Raja poster was originally designed in hand painted oil on canvas format by a Delhi based Bollywood poster art studio and features striking illustrated artwork.

A beautiful hand drawn illustration of lead actor Dheeraj Kumar lying over Jayshree Talpade is seen at the center. Villain Jeevan is seen in a portrait at the bottom left holding a machine gun in his Hitler-like character. The priceless Anarkali statue is seen on the top left of this Raaton Ka Raja poster.

The top half of this old Bollywood poster depicts a blue black moonlit sky, while the bottom portion is yellow. Typography used in this vintage Bollywood poster is a mix of English as well as Devanagari Hindi. The main Devanagari Hindi title appears in yellow standing our brilliantly against a blue black background in this Raaton Ka Raja poster.

The soundtrack album of Raaton Ka Raja (1970) was composed by one of the greatest composers in Indian cinema, R.D. Burman, while lyrics were written by Majrooh Sultanpuri. It featured the hit title song, Raton Ka Raja Hoon Main sung by Mohammed Rafi and the duet “Mohabbat Se Tumhen Dekha Magar Tum Jane Kya Samjhe” sung by Mohammed Rafi & Lata Mangeshkar. True to R.D. Burman’s experimental style, the album also featured a hilarious song, “Pyar Kiya Toh Darna Kya, Pyar Kiya Koi Daru Nahi Pi” sung by Mahendra Kapoor and Shamshad Begum, which was a parody of the cult Mughal-e-Azam song.