Shree Krishna Bhakti

Antique film posters for sale: Shree Krishna Bhakti (1955).

This is an actual surviving rare vintage original Bollywood poster of the 1955 mythological Hindi film that was directed by the pioneer of special effects in Indian cinema, Babubhai Mistry.

Produced by Homi Wadia under the Combine Film Traders banner, Shree Krishna Bhakti (1955) starred Lalita Pawar and Manmohan Krishna in key roles.

Naina, Bipin Gupta, B.M. Vyas and Master Pakku played supporting roles in this mythological film, while Mahipal made a special appearance.

Printed and circulated during the screening of the film in theaters (somewhere in the late 1950s), this rare antique film poster was printed for publicity of the movie but never ended up being used.

This Shree Krishna Bhakti poster was originally designed in hand painted oil on canvas format by a movie poster design studio in Delhi. The printed signature of the Bollywood poster painter who designed this antique film poster is seen on the bottom left.

Actor Manmohan Krishna is seen prominently in a stunning hand drawn rendition on the left. He is seen holding a Sarangi in one hand and a Jheeka/Kartal in the other. Musical notes are seen leading from his hand all the way to the top of this Shree Krishna Bhakti poster where lyrics of one of the hit devotional songs are written: “Koi Kahe Ram Koi Kahe Shyam Ghanshyam, Jo Radha Waley Shyam Hai Woh Sita Waley Ram” (Someone Says Ram, Someone Says Shyam Ghanshyam, Who’s Radha’s Shyam is Sita’s Ram).

Sung by one of the greatest singers in Indian cinema, Mohammed Rafi, the song became immensely popular at the time of the film’s release. This rare antique film poster capitalizes on the success of the song by announcing its lyrics at the top.

Actress Lalita Pawar is seen in a strikingly accurate hand drawn portrait on the right of this Shree Krishna Bhakti poster, painted in the same color as the background. Lord Krishna is seen in an illustration on the top right. A divine halo is painted around his face and he appears with his hand outstretched holding a flute.

Lettering used in this poster is entirely in Devanagari Hindi, with a translation of the title seen in English at the bottom. The main Hindi title appears in red with a white border at the bottom.

The soundtrack album of Shree Krishna Bhakti was composed by Chitragupta and featured gems like, “Koi Kahe Ram, Koi Kahe Shyam Ghanshyam” sung by Mohammad Rafi.