KalingaTimes Correspondent
Bhubaneswar, Nov. 23: A poster exhibition by National Film Archive of India (NFAI) opened today at 40th IFFI-Goa, 2009. The exhibition this year is based on the theme ‘Venus: the Feminine Roles and the Reels'.

According to an official release issued by the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, this is the first time ever that around 350 posters on the theme portraying various issues on women in cinema are being displayed. Posters ranging from Raja Harishchandra (1913) to present day films like Fashion and Jodha Akbar are part of the collection on display.

The unique exhibition has been mounted in association with the Directorate of Advertisement and Visual Publicity, a media unit of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. Kalyancha Khajina (1924) and Sati Savitri (1927) are some of the other oldest film posters on display.

Inaugurating the exhibition, V. B. Pyarelal, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India and S. M. Khan, Director, Directorate of Film Festivals noted that never before has such a rich collection of posters, documenting the evolution of art of poster making, been put under one roof where one can watch the skill evolving from hand – painted, lithographed versions to modern day off-set printing technology for poster printing.

At the opening of the exhibition, marking yet another first time effort was the release of NFAI's book titled ‘Treasures from NFAI'. The book containing images of about 102 selected film posters carries an introduction by noted critic Firoze Rangoonwalla.

All the posters have been sourced from the large collection in NFAI. The book priced Rs. 1,000 is available for sale at the old GMC building venue.

The book also makes an interesting reading of film posters moving from event based depictions in silent era of the film making to personality based posters with the coming of Bombay Talkies and stars such as Prithviraj Kapoor.

Posters earlier were usually printed on low-quality paper as Posters were expected to last only for a few days just to announce the release and exhibition of a new film.

During the 40th IFFI, NFAI will also put up a programme on Shambharik Kharolika at the Kala Academy Auditorium on November 24, 2009. Shambharik Kharolika is a pre-cinema gadget that evolved in India 1885 comprising hand painted glass slides. This pre-cinema device has been in the care of NFAI since 1983.

Vintage Musical Hits from the treasures of NFAI will also be screened in Kala Academy Auditorium from November 27 to December 01, 2009. The package includes well known films on ‘Tansen' (Hindi/1943/Jayant Desai), ‘Meera' (Hindi/1945/ Ellis R.Duncan), ‘Andaz' (Hindi/1949/ Meboob Khan), ‘Anarkali' (Hindi/1953/Nandlal Jaswantlal) and ‘Goonj Uthi Shehnai' (1959/Vijay Bhatt).

Another Section ‘NFA Gold' will showcase Apur Sansar (Bengali) directed by Satyajit Ray and Do Ankhen Barah Haath (Hindi) directed by V. Shantaram.

Established in 1964, National Film Archive of India is a Pune-based media unit of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India.

The primary charter of the NFAI is to safeguard the heritage of Indian Cinema for posterity and act as a centre for dissemination of a healthy film culture through screenings and appreciation courses. Promotion of research on various aspects of cinema also forms a part of its objectives.

A member of the International Federation of the Film Archives since 1969, the NFAI is beneficiary of the expertise on the film preservation and other aspects of documentation on cinema.

A large number of scholars and researchers on cinema, both from within the country and abroad, look forward to the NFAI as a major resource centre, where they have easy access to the largest repository of the Indian cinema and perhaps the best library of books on cinema as well as a large collection of the ancillary material on cinema.

The poster exhibition can be viewed at the old GMC Building , at the Kala Academy and at the Ravindra Bhavan Complex in Margao till December 3.