Shikar

Bollywood murder mystery movies poster for sale: Shikar (1968).

Featured here is an actual surviving original Bollywood poster of the 1968 Hindi murder mystery produced and directed by Atma Ram that starred Dharmendra and Asha Parekh in lead roles.

Written by Abrar Alvi and released under the Guru Dutt Films banner, Shikar (1968) also starred Sanjeev Kumar, Rehman, Helen, Johnny Walker, Bela Bose, Manmohan, Keshto Mukherjee, Mirajkar, Lata Sinha, Raj Kishore, Ramesh Deo and Shyam Kumar in supporting roles.

Shikar (1968) told the story of a brave forest estate manager called Ajay (Dharmendra) who finds his boss Naresh (Ramesh Deo) murdered shortly after he has written his last will and testament. Inspector Rai (Sanjeev Kumar) arrives at the crime scene and finds the murder weapon described by Ajay missing. So is the woman who crashed her car into the forest the night of the murder and was laid on the bed in an unconscious state by Ajay in his room. Ajay sets out to find the missing woman and is shocked to see her performing on stage at a musical show. When he confronts her, he learns her name is Kiran (Asha Parekh) and she is the daughter of retired police commissioner Sharma (Rehman). Kiran flatly denies being in a car accident at the time of the murder and accuses Ajay for mixing her up with someone else. The mystery deepens as Ajay is sure the woman he carried in his arms in an unconscious state the night of the murder was Kiran. But how can he prove it?

Printed and circulated during the initial release run of the film (somewhere in the late 1960s), this original Bollywood murder mystery movies poster was designed for publicity of the film but never ended up being used.

This Shikar poster was originally designed in hand painted oil on canvas format by a Bollywood poster art studio in Bombay and features stunning artwork.

A beautiful illustrated close up portrait of actress Asha Parekh is seen at the center, while Dharmendra appears in the background suspiciously gazing at her. A striking side profile portrait of actor Sanjeev Kumar is seen on the left. Comedian Johnny Walker is seen in a black and white still photo pasted on the right.

Typography used in this Bollywood murder mystery movies poster is primarily in English with a translation of the title appearing in Devanagari Hindi as well. The background is a gradient of red on the top and white at the bottom.

The main English title of the film appears in a stunning diagonal 3D perspective font in red with a dark blue border. A tiger is illustrated prowling over the title, giving away the meaning of the title as well as the setting of the film.

The soundtrack album of Shikar (1968) was composed by hit duo Shankar-Jaikishan, while lyrics were written by Hasrat Jaipuri. The album featured the blockbuster hit song, “Parde Mein Rehne Do” sung by Asha Bhosle for which she won Best Female Playback Singer at the Filmfare Awards in 1969. The song is fondly remembered and played till date. Another unforgettable hit from the album was the title track, “Shikar Karne Ko Aaye Shikar Ho Ke Chale” sung by Mohammed Rafi. “Jabse Lagi Tose Najariya, Nas Nas Mein Daude Hai Bijuriya” sung by melody queens Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle was also very popular at the time of the film’s release.