Sangam

Sangam poster for sale.

Featured here is an original Bollywood poster of the super hit 1964 Hindi film Sangam, produced and directed by the “Showman of Indian cinema” Raj Kapoor, featuring him in a leading role opposite Vyjayanthimala. The love triangle also starred Rajendra Kumar.

Iftekhar, Randhir Kapoor, Raj Mehra, Nana Palsikar, Lalita Pawar, Achala Sachdev and Hari Shivdasani played supporting roles in the film.

A magnum opus, Raj Kapoor spared no expense in Sangam’s shoot, with many scenes shot in exotic foreign locations such as Venice, Paris, and Switzerland.

Sangam is believed to be the first Indian film shot extensively abroad, and is credited with starting the trend of shooting expensive song sequences in foreign locations outside India. During it’s release, it was the most expensive film of it’s time and also had the longest runtime.

Released in Technicolor, Sangam was Raj Kapoor’s first color film, and is considered one of his finest, making this vintage Bollywood poster, highly collectible.

Printed and circulated during the screening of the film in theaters (somewhere in the late 1960s / early 1970s), this old Sangam poster was originally designed for publicity of the film but never ended up being used.

A beautiful hand painted rendition of actress Vyjayanthimala in a golden yellow saree is seen prominently at the center. She is seen flanked by illustrated portraits of Raj Kapoor playing the accordion on the left and Rajendra Kumar on the right. The love triangle plot of the film is evident from the simplistic arrangement of the three portraits in this original Sangam poster.

A picturesque background is seen on the top, split into two parts. The left, representative of India shows the Taj Mahal, whereas the right captures Europe with the Parisian Eiffel tower and Leaning tower of Pisa.

The bottom portion of this old Raj Kapoor poster has a minimal white background. Typography is primarily in English, with a translation of the title seen in Devanagari Hindi on the bottom right.

The soundtrack album of the film was composed by duo Shankar-Jaikishan, while lyrics were written by Shailendra and Hasrat Jaipuri. It was a blockbuster and is unanimously regarded as one of the finest in Indian cinema.

Vyjayantimala made her singing debut in Sangam with the songs “Yeh Mera Prem Patra Padhkar” that she sung together with Mohammad Rafi & Lata Mangeshkar; and “Bol Radha Bol (Mere Man Ki Ganga)” sung together with Mukesh.

Tracks like “Dost Dost Na Raha” sung by Mukesh, “Har Dil Jo Pyaar Karega” sung by Lata Mangeshkar, Mukesh & Mahendra Kapoor, and “Main Kya Karoon Ram Mujhe Buddha Mil Gaya” sung by Lata Mangeshkar are fondly remembered and played till date.

Sangam also featured a song in German and English, “Ich Liebe Dich (I Love You)” sung by Vivian Lobo.