Page 494 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

CINMA BANNER PAINTING 491

the first full-length feature film, Mukh O Mukhosh (1956) directed by Abdul Jabbar
Khan. After that in 1957, East Pakistan Film Development Corporation (now known
as Bangladesh Film Development Corporation or BFDC) was established. The
establishment of BFDC has played an important role in building the foundation and
development of the film industry in Bangladesh.
Even though cinema banner painting in Bangladesh developed after the partition in the
50s, similar work had been going on for a long time in Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai,
Lahore and Karachi. But we hardly have any information about the characteristics,
nature, source, inspiration or the ideal of their work. Other than a few reports and a
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research publication there is no reliable source of information. The book, mainly
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discusses different topics related to Hindi films based on the Mumbai film industry. In
the third chapter of the book a few comments are made which provides a guideline
regarding the aesthetic and artistic interpretation of film advertisement which will
assist the understanding of the source of cinema banner painting in Bangladesh. In this
book, three influences have been mentioned pointing towards the aesthetic and artistic
source of Hindi film advertisement industry before partition. They are: 1. The oil
paintings and popular prints of Raja Ravi Varma, 2. European naturalistic style of art
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practiced by Bombay School of Art and 3. Art Deco, relatively later during the latter
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half of the third decade of twentieth century, as usual imported from Europe. 20
According to researchers, Indian paintings influenced by the European academic style,
especially in the narrative themes based on religion and myth, gave rise to a new form
of aesthetics, which had a direct impact on early Indian movies. It is notable that quite
a number of religious and mythical stories were chosen as themes for most of these
first generation films at that time and directors followed the style invented by Ravi
Varma to visualize these type of stories. Naturally this very style had an impact on
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the different elements used for the publicity of films (i.e. poster, booklet, banner etc.) 22
The printed pictures of Kolkata Art Studio (and other studios as well) became quite
popular like Ravi Varma’s oleographs. The continuation of this style to the present in
the popular trend of posters and calendars clearly indicates its close relationship with
cinema banner painting. Madhusree Dutta said, ‘The by-product of this cinema culture
was the banner art. … their origin can be traced back to oleograph, but with the
challenge of big scale, public space matching the movie narratives, the banner art soon
developed into a distinct school of its own’. 23
The writers of the book Cinema India have shown the impact of the mimetic trend that
was practiced in the Bombay School of Art in the advertisement of Hindi movies. 24
This mimetic form was not only in practice in Mumbai but also in other parts of India
including Kolkata. These artists definitely contributed to film advertising and may
have contributed to cinema banner painting, as well.
Abdul Wahab of the famous ‘Dada Art’ of Syedpur disclosed that his ancestors used
to live in Bara Katra of Chennai. Cinema banner painting was his family business for
ganerations. He learnt this trade from his father Abdus Sobhan who migrated to
Syedpur after partition taking a job in the railways. As a result, Abdul Wahab also