Once upon a time in India, radios, or transistors as they were called, were the primary mode of entertainment, and Binaca¹ was the “most loved toothpaste” all over the country, or at least, the Hindi speaking parts of it.

Posters were the only means of communication when it comes to promoting the movies. There were posters on the walls, in the train stations, in the news papers, and everywhere else. Each poster concept was meticulously designed and hand painted by one person, whose title was publicity artist. This post is to remember some of those designers who excelled in what they did - Eeshwar, Lanka Bhaskar, Ketha, Gangadhar, Dawood, Masthan, Suresh Bujji, Paani, Diwaakar, Bapu - the erstwhile masters of that extinct art!!

Eeswar

Kedi Number 1 (Telugu remake of Dus Numbri) starring legendary N.T.Rama Rao (NTR) was a release movie² in this small town in A.P. And this one kid who got swept away by the amazing logo and the hand painted art work of NTR on the posters, sneaked out his dad’s parker ballpen, took out the metal refill, removed the plastic tip at the bottom end of the refill, took a twig from the jhaadu (broom), dipped it in the ink and drew a big circle and a big “1″ inside it, on one of his new white vests (banians) - and proudly emulating the great NTR wore it to a game of hide-and-seek that evening, gallantly singing the title song of the movie - “nEnE nembar 1…” (I am number 1).

Little did he knew that this idea was gonna make him famous forever - he has his first 15 minutes worth of fame that evening while playing with his friends when they admire the clever idea and his ingenious drawing skills, and later that evening when his mom beats him up with a wooden ruler in their front yard - sab ke saamne - he would soar the heights of celebrity status… because starting that day, he shall be known as “Kedi Number 1″ in his colony, much to the envy of his friends.

The key albeit invisible driver behind this fateful episode was the artist who did the publicity design work for that movie. His name is Eeshwar.

Eeshwar can be considered as the first artist who brought the job the recognition it deserved. His designs for all the NTR movies were eye catching and enticingly intelligent, alluring the viewers to watch the movie sooner than later, and once too often.

The posters of Adavi Ramudu (The Rama of Jungle) had NTR dressed as the hunter, and also dressed in Safari suits, the new style designed for NTR by his personal costume designer, Vaaleshwara Rao (needless to say, the kid pestered his parents and got a safari suit stitched that summer).

Yugandhar (Telugu remake of Don) had NTR shown as both the Don and the simpleton. Veta gadu (The Hunter) was a fan’s dream come true - it had NTR wearing the straw hat drenched in rain pulling the pallu of Sridevi’s saree, and NTR standing tall looking at the horizon with his hands resting majestically on the shot gun that’s balanced on his shoulders.

Was it the charisma of the masculine NTR? Yes!

Forget Sridevi and others, NTR is there and that’s what matters…

Was it the sublime art of Eeshwar? A resounding YES!!

It’s the knack with which he garnished the amazing poster art with vital pictures from the movie, that arrested the viewers and made them the patrons. And most importantly, not deceiving the gullible viewers by selling false dreams.

These posters were extravagant enough to snare the viewers, fans or not, and made them come to the theaters in throngs. At the same time, they were creative enough to be seen as art - the art which was a labor of love.

There were bad posters as well - posters that revealed the entire story on that single wall-spread, posters that tried to play on the basic human emotions and hunger, posters that were trying to sell a bad product in a bad way - but none of them, as far as I remember, were designed by Eeshwar.

He has designed posters for bad movies, but never a bad poster - his design would always tell you the truth. And for this kid, who has just started to look for something more in every poster, Eeshwar’s name was the source of truth. The ISI mark, if you may.

The posters of Super Man³ had NTR dressed in blue and red, but unlike the phoren Super Man, our desi Super Man did not wear his underpants over the tights, and he wore the belt over the shirt with the un-tucked shirt still covering his v-zone.

NTR on these posters was flanked by Jaya Prada in a white saree, and Jaya Malini in her seductive witch get up. The logo of Super Man had a fantastic line drawing of NTR flying over the tapering ballooney letters, with his cape abloom.

For the next few months the last few pages of every note book of the kid had had illustrations of a flat NTR-ish hunk in super man suit proudly standing on the Telugu letters Soo-pa-R-Maa-N … until one day the Social Studies teacher discovered this art and made him do a show & tell of his brilliant artistry to the Principal, who then sent a letter to the kid’s parents - who were both irritated and amused by these antics of their son. I guess that was the day when those parents had pretty much given up all the hope they had on this boy, their only son.

Days passed, more movies got made and released. Eeshwar drew more posters. The kid kept watching all of them.

Daana Veera Soora Karna had NTR playing 3 roles - Krishna, Karna, and Duryodhana. It was NTR all over the posters, and the posters all over the town. Feast for the hungry eyes!

Aata gaadu (The Player / Dancer) cam and the posters had NTR wearing a shiny white Elvisesque suit, with Sridevi in tow, (wearing a similar shiny white dress that’s slit all the way up, showing her legs in full splendor, but with NTR emulating Elvis, who would look at her). Simhabaludu (The one with the strength of a Lion), which had NTR dressed like a roman soldier, tied in chains (a la Samson) and featured Vanisri, Jayamalini, and Mohan Babu on the huge 16 piece poster - and that’s when the kid discovered that the giant posters come in pieces which then get assembled like a jigsaw puzzle to make the big picture.

If anyone’s intrigued by the process, this is how it goes - early in the morning, or late during the night, the poster guy comes on his bicycle with a bunch of posters, a bucket of homemade glue (which is made by boiling a flour called maida in water until it becomes sticky like glue), and a ladder. Then he removes one piece from each individually numbered bundles (the posters have the numbers printed on the back side), and lays them on the ground. Then using a hand broom (that stands in for a brush), he dollops glue over these pieces spreading it nice and even, and sticks em up on the wall, one at a time. After a minute or so, viola! NTR looks down at you from there and commands you to come and meet him - first day, first show.

Gajadonga (The One who can steal an Elephant - a Telugu idiom for a great thief) has NTR playing the super thief, and the posters had a low-angle shot of NTR (the camera at his feet looking up at him) with his gold studded thick black shoe prominently figured in the frame. Now which person can not-watch the movie after seeing that poster? The kid has to be there FDFS!! The movie started and NTR is on the screen, as “Gold Man”. His suit is gold laced, his eye glasses are gold rimmed, his shoes are gold studded, his throne is made of gold, and his job, in case you are not bright enough to guess, is to steal and smuggle gold. The cops stop NTR to check if his car contains stolen gold. And they find nothing. Our hero is too smart for them. Then he arrives at his den, and guess what.. the gold had been there all along, but was hidden from the prying eyes of police.

Ask me how. How?

I’ll tell you how… it is not what the car contained. The question is, what was the car made of. Yes, the car he drives… you got it, is made of 24-carats pure gold, and that’s how he outwitted the cops and ferried in the gold. What a man!!

And this majestic man’s royal looks are impeccably captured on the posters’ art work, in the able hands of the one and only Eeshwar. What an artist!

The movies just kept getting better and better as the time passed, and so did Eeshwar’s art.

Bobbili Puli (The Tiger of Bobbili, a place in A.P that’s supposedly produced a lot of great fighters), Sardar Paparayudu, Kondaveeti Simham (the Lion of Kondaveedu), Driver Ramudu, Circus Ramudu, Sarada Ramudu, Challege Ramudu, Sahasavantudu (The Adventurous), Yugapurushudu (The Man of the Era), Tiger, Tiruguleni Manishi (The Unbeatable), Aggiravva (A spark of Fire), Vishwaroopam (The Cosmic Vision), Rama krishnulu (Rama and Krishna), Rowdy Ramudu Konte Krishnudu (Rowdy Rama and Mischievous Krishna), Satyam Shivam, Vayyari Bhamalu Vagalamari Bhartalu (Smug Beauties and their Cheeky Husbands), Simham Navvindi (The Lion Laughed), Anuraga Devata (The Goddess of Love), Justice Chowdary, Chandashasanudu (The Totalitarian) and more.

Every one of them had Eeshwar doing the poster work - each one a gem in its own class.

This love affair with NTR continued until the unforgettable day when NTR announced that he will no longer make any more movies, after the movie that was in making.

Naa Desham (My Country - a remake of Lawaaris) was that movie - and in one of the scenes NTR has this fight with a bunch of goons who, not unlike a team of Indian delegates to UN or some place like that, are from different states and speak diffrent languages. NTR not only beats all of them, one at a time, he also talks to them in their own language while he’s kicking their individual asses. NTR mouthing dialogs in every language - and NTR from the same scene, drawn by Eeshwar on every poster, and the fact that it’s gonna be his last movie - need I say more? The film was the biggest hit that the place has ever seen!!

NTR then started his Telugu Desam party, and started touring A.P. taking to every citizen of every village, and this poor fan of his in this small town was bawling his eyes out. The only solace was that Eeshwar was still designing stuff for the God of Telugu Cinema. We could still see NTR in different poses, in Eeshwar’s lines. Then, left with no options, he moved his loyalty to another star who was just rising.

(Continued)

¹Ameen Sayani’s Binaca geetmala was the biggest hit with grownups while their kids fought over the cute little plastic animals that came with that paste.

²In those days the people living in small Indian towns, just like the people living in present day Australia, had to wait for 6 to 9 months after the release of a movie to be able to view it.

³Yes, NTR is the Telugu Super Man. His parents get killed when he is still a kid. He runs and seeks shelter in a Hanuman temple. Hanuman blesses the kid and the kid becomes Super Man, who grows up to be NTR. An awesome trippy movie.