Taal

Taal film poster for sale.

Featured here is an actual surviving original Bollywood poster of the blockbuster 1999 musical romance co-written, edited, produced and directed by Subhash Ghai that starred Miss World 1994 Aishwarya Rai and Akshaye Khanna in key roles along with Anil Kapoor (of Slumdog Millionaire fame).

Premiered at the Chicago International Film Festival, Taal (1999) also starred Amrish Puri, Alok Nath, Sushma Seth, Mita Vashisht, Saurabh Shukla, Manoj Pahwa and Rajesh Khera in supporting roles while Bobby Darling, Anita Hassanandani and Subhash Ghai made special appearances in the film.

Taal (1999) was the highest grossing film of the year in overseas markets, becoming a massive success in both the US and UK. It was the first Indian film to reach the top 20 on Variety’s box office list, making this Taal film poster, highly collectible!

Taal bagged a total of six awards at the 45th Filmfare Awards – most notably Best Music Director for A.R. Rahman’s brilliant compositions and Best Supporting Actor for Anil Kapoor.

Printed and circulated subsequent to the first release of the film in theaters (somewhere in the early 2000s), this Taal film poster was designed for publicity of the film in north Indian theaters, but never ended up being used.

Actress Aishwarya Rai is seen in a stunning white dress dancing at the center of this old Bollywood poster. Large close ups of actors Anil Kapoor and Akshaye Khanna are seen on either side, facing opposite directions. The arrangement of the three still photos gives away the love triangle plot of the film. Several backup dancers are seen in the background, suggesting the musical theme of the film.

Typography used in this original Taal film poster is in Devanagari Hindi, with the title appearing in red accentuated with a white border at the bottom. The subtitle of the film, “… The Beat of Passion” appears below in English.

The soundtrack album of Taal (1999) was composed by music maestro A.R. Rahman, while lyrics were penned by Anand Bakshi. Songs from the film became a rage throughout the nation at the time of the album’s release. The soundtrack made it to the “Greatest Bollywood Soundtracks of All Time” list. Tracks like “Taal Se Taal Mila” sung by Sukhwinder Singh, Alka Yagnik & Udit Narayan, “Ramta Jogi” sung by Sukhwinder Singh & Alka Yagnik and “Ishq Bina” sung by A.R. Rahman & Sonu Nigam are counted as AR Rahman’s finest and played till today.