The lost art of hand painted posters

There used to be a time when movie posters and banners were hand-painted by artists.

Big banners were hung on high walls in front of theatres and posters were kept in glass boxes outside the main auditorium.

But those days are long gone. With the advent of technology, movie posters and banners are now digitally procured.

This begets the question -- what happened to these painters who once made a living drawing these posters?

"Majority of these painters, who were involved in the profession are either dead or sitting idle at their homes. Only a few of them are working jointly with graphic designers as assistants," said Md Soyeb, a painter who left the profession after 2003.

Soyeb said he started his career back in 1965 when he was just 13 years old.

After the recently released Bangla movie "Operation Sundarbans", the practice of handpainted posters was revived.

Bidesh Kumar

Soyeb was among the two artists who painted posters for the movie. His co-artist was Bidesh Kumar Dhar, now working with graphic artists as an assistant.

While talking to The Daily Star recently, these two artists shared the journey and end of the industry.

Bidesh Kumar, popularly known as BKD among people in the film industry, said making hand-painted movie banners and posters completely stopped after 2005.

"We were around 70 to 80 people in Dhaka, who used to make movie posters. Upon completion of the art, these posters were distributed across the country and hung in front of different movie theatres," said BKD, who started his career in 1961.

"But people stopped reaching out to us after 2000," he said.

When asked how artists survived in that period, Soyeb said primarily he used to draw portraits between 2005 and 2006.

"I also used to paint signboards and banners. But those kinds of work also stopped after 2006."

Sharing the experience of working as a painter in a movie after such a long time, Soyeb said, "I was a bit nervous when the 'Operation Sundarbans' team contacted me for a poster."

Md Soyeb

"I thought I will not be able to draw with the same skill I once had," he said.

"Making a poster is not an easy job as we have to bring the whole sequence of the movie in a single painting," Soyeb explained.

"When BKD and I worked as painters in the '60s, our monthly salary was around Tk 5 only. And when we left the profession in 2003, the salary was Tk 600 monthly," he said.

During this period, Soyeb tried to start an industry of making banners and posters in the capital's Wari in 1990. But his efforts did not see the light, he said.

While discussing how they learned this craft, BKD said, "There were masters in this profession and some four to five assistants used to work under one. We learned the techniques while working as assistants," he said.

"But no one shows interest to learn the craft or make movie posters after 1984 when the industry started to fall," added BKD.

Asked about the reason behind using artists for movie posters in this digital era, Maj Roisul Azam Moni, deputy director of the legal and media wing of Rab, also an "Operation Sundarbans" team member, said, "We just wanted to bring back the history."

"We all have seen the painted posters in the olden days. This art form suddenly disappeared. So we wanted to bring back that feeling of nostalgia again through these movies," he added.