Sagina

Dilip Kumar photo poster for sale: Sagina (1974).

Featured here is an actual surviving original Bollywood poster of the old 1974 Hindi film directed by noted parallel filmmaker Tapan Sinha that starred Dilip Kumar in the titular role as “Sagina.”

Produced by J.K. Kapur under the Rupasree International banner, Sagina (1974) also starred Saira Banu, Aparna Sen, Anil Chatterjee, Swarup Dutt, Chinmoy Roy, Om Prakash and Kader Khan in supporting roles.

The film was a Hindi remake of Tapan Sinha’s earlier Bengali release Sagina Mahato (1970), starring Dilip Kumar as well in the titular role, which itself was based on a Bengali short story called Sagina Mahato written by noted writer Gour Kishore Ghosh in 1969.

The “Emperor of Acting” and pioneer of method acting in Indian cinema, Dilip Kumar played the role of Sagina, a young trade union leader who courageously stands up against the high handedness of his factory’s British owners, only to be identified as a traitor by his own and tried in a communist people’s court setup in a forest.

Sagina (1974) is fondly remembered as the first and only film where legendary playback singer Kishore Kumar sang for Dilip Kumar. The smash hit song, “Saala Main Toh Sahab Ban Gaya” became a rage throughout the nation at the time of the film’s release and is fondly remembered and played till today.

The plot of Sagina (1974) is summarized in the opening credits as follows: “A chapter in the history of India 1942-43. On the one hand, the struggle against Fascist lust. On the other, British Imperialism breathing it’s last. In this cataclysm a new India was being born.”

Although praised by critics, the film was a box office failure, marking “tragedy king,” Dilip Kumar’s first consecutive failure in almost three decades since 1945 – i.e. Dastaan (1972) followed by Sagina (1974).

Printed and circulated during the first release run of the film in theaters (somewhere in 1974), this Sagina movie poster was originally designed for publicity of the film but never ended up being used.

Originally designed in mixed media format by a movie poster design studio in Bombay, this vintage Sagina poster features a striking design. A large over painted close up photo of legendary actor Dilip Kumar is seen dominating the entire span of this Sagina movie poster.

The still photograph appears in black and white, with a part of his face in silhouette. Light brush strokes are visible over a few places where the photo has been over painted. The expression on his face gives away the sadness and pain experienced by his character.

Typography used in this old Bollywood poster is entirely in English. The title and the rest of the credits appear in white, standing out in contrast against the black background.

The soundtrack album of Sagina (1974) was composed by legendary music director S.D. Burman, while lyrics were written by Majrooh Sultanpuri. The cult song, “Saala Main Toh Sahab Ban Gaya” sung by Kishore Kumar was later used in the super hit film Raja Hindustani (1996) featuring Aamir Khan.