Celebrating their 7th anniversary, Gurugram’s Heritage Transport Museum is organising the country’s first exhibition of original Indian movie posters and lobby cards, each representing modes of transport that cemented their space in the flicks’ storylines. Titled ‘Moments in Motion’, here’s what you can expect from this unique display. By Bayar Jain
On their 7th anniversary, Gurugram’s Heritage Transport Museum is organising India’s first exhibition of Indian movie posters and lobby cards in honour of the various transports that formed an integral part of the storylines, and advertisements. Titled Moments in Motion, this one-of-a-kind display includes more than 60 posters and 100 lobby cards spanning five decades.
Seeing film posters as an integral part of cinema’s inception, this exhibit explores the shifts these works of art have had in terms of lettering, styles, colours, tastes, and in turn, societal changes as well. Seen as mirrors of nation’s transformative stages, these posters, lobby cards, show cards, and song booklets are, therefore, considered an indispensable part of India’s cinematic history. To weave in the transport aspect signature to the museum, the exhibition is curated to show this link from a different vantage point.
Noting the inception of motorised transport in India and its impact on cinema, the Movements in Motion exhibition will point towards this interlink. For instance, the stunt-laden Miss Frontier Mail (1936) centred around trains, the same transport led to an emotional setting in Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali (1955). Later in 1969, this iconography elevated in Rajash Khanna-starrer Aradhana.
Trains aside, the exhibition also depicts non-mechanised transports such as rickshaws (as seen in Bimal Roy’s Do Bigha Zamin from 1953) and tongas (from Dilip Kumar-starrer, Naya Daur). Notably, the oldest poster on display is Hunterwali ki Beti (1943), while the newest one is Chalti Ka Naam Zinda from 1982.
Started on December 5, this unique exhibition is currently on display at the Heritage Transport Museum in Gurugram till January 31, 2021.
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