Nav Durga (Nine Durgas), 1953
Set of 5 showcards, c. 1953, 63.5cm x 49cm
Tinted gelatin silver print and poster paint on textured board with hand-lettering.
"Nav Durga is a mythological drama about the god Suryawarcha and the nine forms of the goddess Durga. It was directed by the best-known director of mythological films of the time, Babubhai Mistri, a former poster artist turned cameraman, director and special-effects expert.
Cat. no. 1 follows an iconic format, replicating devotional posters for sale in bazaars at the time, while Cat. no 2 adopts a newer style featuring theatrical facial expressions. The title and credits use the Devanagari script, catering to small towns and villages, as opposed to English, which emerged as a pan-Indian language after colonial rule, used more commonly for social genres that addressed an urban audience.
The film Nav Durga (1953) was produced by Homi Wadia of Basant Pictures, and directed by Babubhai Mistri. Music by S. N. Tripathi, black and white, Hindi, starring Amarnath, Usha Kiran and Sulochana Chatterji."
--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. 55, Cat. no. 1.