Dak Bangla (The Resthouse), 1974
Set of 4 howcards, c. 1974, 45cm X 75cm
Tinted gelatin silver print and poster paint on textured board with screen-printed lettering.
These showcards are notable for the creativity of their design. Tinted photographs of faces are combined with line drawings that complete the rest of the body. The fluid boundaries between photography and drawing visible here recalls the practice of painted photography in India, dating to the nineteenth century, which often rendered only the face and hands photographically while covering the rest with paint. In Cat. no. 48, the space created between the two figures provides a window into a scene from the film. In this way, the artist plays with negative and positive space, reversing what the viewer would expect to see.
The film Dak Bangla (1974) was produced by Girish Ranjan Productions and directed by Girish Ranjan. Music by Shyam Sagar. Colour, Hindi, starring Simi Garewal, Subhendu, Nitin Sethi, Geeta and Bhagwan Sahu.
--Text by Dr. Deepali Dewan and Alexandra McCarter, based on Deepali Dewan, ed. Bollywood Cinema Showcards: Indian Film Art from the 1950s to the 1980s. Showcards from The Hartwick Collection. Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum Press, 2011. Copyright of and reproduced here with the generous permission of the Royal Ontario Museum.
Literature
Deepali Dewan, ed. Bollywood Cinema Showcards: Indian Film Art from the 1950s to the 1980s. Showcards from The Hartwick Collection. Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum Press, 2011, p. 99, Cat. no. 48.