Rickshawala

Rickshawala poster art for sale.

Featured here is an actual surviving vintage Bollywood poster of the old 1973 Hindi drama edited and directed by K. Shankar that starred Randhir Kapoor in the titular role of a cycle rickshaw driver opposite actress Neetu Singh.

Produced by R.M.V. (Rama Veerappan) and released under the banner of Sathya Movies, Rickshawala (1973) also starred Pran, Mala Sinha, Ranjeet, Mohan Choti, Anwar Hussain, Sujit Kumar, Jayakumari, Leela, Vijayalakshmi, Kavita, Lalita Desai, Sunder and Poornam Viswanathan in supporting roles.

Rickshawala (1973) told the dramatic story of a jolly educated cycle rickshaw driver called Gopi (played by Randhir Kapoor) who takes on a powerful mob boss who preys on women (played by Anwar Hussain). A remake of the super hit Tamil film Rickshawkaran (1971), Rickshawala (1973) was declared a flop at the box office.

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

This old Rickshawala poster was originally designed using a combination of both hand painted oil on canvas techniques as well as photographic collage by an art studio in Delhi and features stunning illustrated artwork.

Villains Ranjeet and Pran are seen in dramatic portraits on the top left and right respectively, holding guns in their hands. A fight scene is depicted in a photographic still in between the two portraits featuring Randhir Kapoor battling Ranjeet and his henchmen who are holding sticks, while Neetu Singh appears hiding in the seat of his cycle rickshaw.

A large revealing portrait of actress Neetu Singh lying down is seen at the bottom, illustrated from the hit song, “Main Haseen Hoon Main Jawan Hoon.” A bottle of Vat 69 whisky and a glass are seen in the foreground below. This vintage Rickshawala poster art features a black and white photographic still on the bottom right depicting Sujit Kumar threatening Mala Sinha with a knife.

Typography used in this vintage Rickshawala poster is entirely in Devanagari Hindi. The film’s large title appears in a diagonal font in red accentuated with a yellow border, standing out against a black background. The title runs across the center, splitting this Rickshaw art poster background into two parts. The top background is seen in yellow and red, while the bottom appears in blue.

The soundtrack album of Rickshawala (1973) was composed by maestro R.D. Burman, while lyrics were written by Anand Bakshi. It featured the hit songs, “Main Haseen Hoon Main Jawan Hoon” and “Phoolon Ki Duniya Se” sung by Asha Bhosle.