Page 495 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

492 ART AND CRAFTS

started working here. When asked from whom his father and grandfather (Mohammad
Sarwar) learnt this trade, he said that his ancestors learnt it from the Telengas in
Chennai. 25 Thus we may presume that cinema banner painting might have a
connection with South Indian painting.
On the other hand, S. Moyeen (1936- ), master: Md. Yusuf) said that there were at
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least 8-10 studios of cinema banner painting in Kolkata in the 50s. Among these the
Mannan Studio of Abdul Mannan and P.G. Sheel’s workshop had been active since the
’40s. Most of them who migrated to Dhaka from Kolkata, either after the partition or
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the communal riot of 1964, worked in these studios.
Another pioneer of the cinema banner painting of Dhaka is Mohammad Selim, the
owner of ‘Moonlight’ cinema hall. He came from Kolkata but his ancestral home was
in Mumbai (the question arises whether there was any connection between Mumbai
and Dhaka regarding this banner painting). He started working on cinema banner
painting from his Rankin Street residence since 1948. No further information could be
found about Mohammad Selim but there were many people who worked as his
apprentices and later became famous. Gulfam was one of the most prominent among
them. (Both Gulfam and Mohammad Selim moved to Pakistan after the Liberation
War of Bangladesh.) 28
We get interesting information about the rise and evolution of Kolkata’s cinema
banner painting from senior artist S. Moyeen. He thinks that it started no later than the
30s. In the beginning those who wrote signboards started cinema banner painting. At
that stage the quality of work was not very satisfactory. However, when some artists
trained at Calcutta Art School engaged in banner painting considering it to be a
profitable occupation, the quality of this form improved. Others who had no formal
education also started imitating their work. The exact date when cinema banner
painting in Kolkata commenced cannot be known, but there is similarity between the
second part of S. Moyeen’s statement with that of the authors of Cinema India. 29
S. Moyeen could recall a few names from his memory of artists who were formally
trained and engaged with cinema banner painting in Kolkata. Susheel Bannerjee,
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fig. 11.2 Cinema banner Prasad and Shashthee were famous among them. Artist Subhash Chakrabarty of
being painted, Dhaka (1939- ) had stayed in Kolkata for a while right after the communal riots of
photograph Athahar 1964. During his stay there, he and Girin Das used to paint banners of films at a Haji
Hossain Surjo Sahib’s workshop. He had also seen Susheel Bannerjee working. From Partha Mitter
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we know the name of Jatindrakumar Sen (1882-1966)
who was a formally educated artist and had engaged in
painting the cinema banners. 32
It does not seem that cinema banner painting had any
connection with the traditional patachitra of Kalighat
or to any other folk form of art in Kolkata which were
in practice till the thirties. Rather it seems that it started
through those who were engaged in painting
signboards, backdrops of theatres or photo studios and