Reshma Aur Shera

Reshma Aur Shera poster for sale.

Featured here is an actual surviving original vintage Bollywood poster of the 1971 Hindi romantic drama produced and directed by Sunil Dutt that starred him in the lead role as “Shera” along with Waheeda Rehman who played the role of “Reshma.”

The greatest superstar of Indian cinema, Amitabh Bachchan played a supporting role in Reshma Aur Shera (1971). It was his sixth film release as a young supporting actor. A year later in 1972, Amitabh Bachchan would go on to play his first lead role in the film Bombay to Goa.

Sunil Dutt’s son Sanjay Dutt made his debut as a child actor in the film. Twelve years old at the time, he was credited as “Master Sanjay Dutt” and would later go on to become of the biggest and most controversial stars of the 1980s/1990s.

Produced under the Ajantaa Art’s banner, Reshma Aur Shera (1971) also starred Rakhee Gulzar, Vinod Khanna, Ranjeet, Naval Kumar, Padma Khanna, Baby Guddi, Sudhir, Sulochana, Jayant, K.N. Singh and Amrish Puri in supporting roles.

A massive commercial and critical success, Reshma Aur Shera (1971) was selected as India’s official entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 44th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee. It was also nominated for the Golden Bear at the 22nd Berlin International Film Festival.

Written by S. Ali Raza, Reshma Aur Shera (1971) was a Romeo and Juliet styled love story that was set in Jaisalmer Rajasthan, with the two lovers belonging to warring Rajput families.

For her stellar performance in the film, Waheeda Rehman won the National Film Award for Best Actress at the 19th National Film Awards, making this Reshma Aur Shera poster, highly collectible!

Printed and circulated during the first release run of the film (somewhere in 1971), this vintage Bollywood poster was originally designed for publicity of the film but never ended up being used.

This vintage Reshma Aur Shera poster was originally designed in hand painted oil on canvas format by a Bollywood poster design studio in Bombay. The printed signature of Bollywood poster painter Vishnu is seen on the bottom left of this old Amitabh movie poster.

Stunning close up illustrations of the five key actors are seen prominently in this old Bollywood poster. Lead actress Waheeda Rehman is seen on the top right in a striking portrait. Dressed in full bridal jewelry, she appears covering her face with her dupatta. A portrait of Rakhee is seen on the left, where she is wearing a large nose ring.

The three male actors are seen below, with Sunil Dutt at the center dressed in fine Rajasathani traditional jewelry. Superstar Amitabh Bachchan on his right and Vinod Khanna on the left appear wearing traditional Rajasthani turbans. The two lovers, Waheeda Rehman (Reshma) and Sunil Dutt (Shera) are seen in miniature on the top of this vintage Bollywood poster. They are seen riding on a camel with the setting desert sun in the distance behind them. An overturned rifle is seen sticking out from the sand alongside, giving away the conflict in their love story.

Typography used in this Reshma Aur Shera poster is entirely in English, with only a translation of the title appearing on the top in Devanagari Hindi as well. The English title appears illustrated in a striking diagonal font in blood red, accentuated with a yellow border.

The soundtrack album of Reshma Aur Shera (1971) was composed by Jaidev, which won him the National Film Award for Best Music Direction. The song “Ek Meethi Si Chubhan” sung by Lata Mangeshkar became popular at the time of it’s release.