Publicité
Bollywood technology kills poster art
Par
Partager cet article
Bollywood technology kills poster art
Down an alley in Delhi, past a Hindu shrine and puddles from the monsoon, you get to one of the last studios where artists paint billboards for Indian movie blockbusters.
Their work is stacked against each other, huge displays in bright epic colours, the faces of heroes and heroines, dwarfing the men on ladders touching up their lips and eyelashes. ?I don?t think I?ll be doing this for much longer,? says Raza Abbas who has been painting since he was 14.
?No one wants our hand-painted work anymore. Everything is becoming computerised and the cinemas are being made into these multiplexes?. ?In a few years time, there won?t be any hand-painted posters,? says Rajender Singh who runs one of the few remaining cinema halls. But while the art might be dying, the products are becoming more valuable.
In a cubby hole of a shop, a young couple, Urvi and Jus Singh, are surrounded by a clutter of old Indian movie posters. The rarest from 1950s films such as Mother India, India?s first entry for the Oscars, sell for up to US$100. ?The old posters are more beautiful,? says Urvi. ?You can see the lines and texture. The new ones are just copies of the films made by someone sitting at a computer.? She unrolls a poster for one of the latest hit films Bend It Like Beckham. ?See this,? says Jus. ?There is no feeling from the artist. Its technical design might be good, but this...? he says pointing to the wall. ?I would die to be able to get more of these. But I think we?ve seen the last.?
Humphrey Hawksley
Publicité
Publicité
Les plus récents
