Kala Bazaar, 1960
Set of 2 showcards, c. 1960, 49cm x 37cm
Gelatin silver print and poster paint on textured board with hand-lettering.
Kala Bazar is a rare film by Indian standards where the heroine, played by Waheeda Rehman, is shown falling in love twice. Alka is devastated when her first love, played by Vijay Anand, falls in love with another woman. But after initial reluctance she falls in love again, this time with the shady character played by Dev Anand.
The film is notable for its star cast - all three Anand brothers (Chetan, Dev and Vijay) acted together in the film and Nargis, Dilip Kumar and Helen all have cameo appearances. Kala Bazar was produced by Dev Anand’s own company, Navketan, which made some ofthe biggest films of the 1950s and 1960s.
"Black is considered an inauspicious colour in the film world but, to capture the essence of this drama, the artist chose to go against convention and painted a black background with a single beam of white light shining down on the star actor, Dev Anand. This is fitting as the film follows the hero’s movement from the black market (kala bazaar) to the legal market or “white market” (safed bazaar). The minimalistic composition and muted tones were typical of a film-noir advertising style made popular by artist D. R. Bhosle.
The film Kala Bazar (1960) was produced by Navketan International and directed by Vijay Anand. Music by S. D. Burman. Black and white, Hindi, starring Dev Anand and Waheeda Rehman."
--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. 65, Cat. no. 10.