Not on display

Pakeezah (1971)

Indian Film Hoarding
2002 (made)
Artist/Maker
Balkrishna Arts (artist)
Place of origin
London (made)

This is an unfinished hoarding and shows the different stages of painting involved in the creation of such hoardings. The design shows a portrait and a full figure image of the actress Meena Kumari in her most famous role as the courtsean Sahibjaan.

Object details

Category
Film and Cinema
Object type
Indian film hoarding
TitlePakeezah (1971)
Materials and techniques
Oil on canvas
Oil Paint
Canvas
Painting
Brief description
Hoarding for the film Pakeezah (1972) by Balkrishna Arts (India), oil paint on canvas, 2002, London.
Physical description
This is an unfinished hoarding and shows the different stages of painting involved in the creation of such hoardings. The design shows a portrait and a full figure image of the actress Meena Kumari in her most famous role as the courtsean Sahibjaan.
Dimensions
  • Height: 2m
  • Width: 5.5m
Gallery label
Hoarding painters

Film hoardings adorning streets and cinema fronts with their large bold images are a characteristic of the city. Hand-painted hoardings used to be a primary form of film advertising. M.F. Husain, one of Indian's most important contemporary artists, famously began his career as a hoarding painter. Today this is a dying art which is gradually being replaced by computer-generated images. ( Photographs courtesy of Jonathan Torgovnik)

Balkrishna Arts

The workshop of this family-run firm is in a tiny gully off a main road in Bombay (Mumbai). Here, they produce traditional hand-painted hoardings measuring as much as 10 feet in height by 20 feet in width. The painters make rough sketches of the design using films stills for reference. Once this has been approved, the canvas is prepared, the design is scaled up on to the large canvas using a grid system, and painted. Transferring a small-scale design through to completion of the painting takes 1-2 days. Balkrishna Arts is one of a handful of firms still practising this art form.
Object history
This hoarding by Balkrishn Arts was commissioned by the V&A as part of the' Cinema India: The Art of Bollywood' exhibition (25 June to 6 October 2002). Two artists from the studio, Ujjwal and Balkrishn Vaidya were invited to the V&A to demonstrate their artwork. This along with two other hoardings were completed on site between 24-30 June 2002.
Collection
South & South East Asia Collection
Accession number
IS.114-2002

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Record createdJanuary 7, 2003
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O72600/pakeezah-1971-indian-film-hoarding-balkrishna-arts/
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