An empty palette

In Search of Fading Canvas, an evocative short on the dying tradition of hand-painted cinema hoardings won a special jury award at National Film Awards

Poster boys: S.Rehman at his studio in Mumbai

We were the first ones to write about it. A rough cut of “In search of Fading Canvas” was first screened at second edition of Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2014 as part of the Artists’ Cinema section curated by film-critic CS Venkiteswaran. The one and a half hour documentary has gone on to win a Special Jury Award in the 63 edition of National Film Awards announced recently. The film directed by Manohar Singh Bisht for Films Division of India deal with the disappearance of painted cinema hoardings and their replacement by vinyl and flex prints.

The evocative short successfully manages to bring out the pathos of artists who delighted cinema buffs for decades with their masterful creations but are now languishing in obscurity. The film covers Delhi, Guwahati, Kolkata, Pune, Mumbai, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Chennai and bring to the forefront these poster boys of yore like D. Ambaji, Balkrishna, Satish, Ramachandran, Diwakar Karkare, Parvez, S.Rehman, G Kamble, Chityal Vinoba Ambaji of Hyderabad and our very own K.Chinappa, who had downed the shutters of his studio Rajkamal Arts in 2014 due to financial losses. The veteran artist has made a comeback this year and has started to paint film posters and cut-outs of Kannada film stars once again.

K Chinappa in his studio in Bangalore

In this poignant short, Bisht portrays these masters in their homes recollecting their work, technique and days of glory. Ninety-year-old Satish, who has done the banners of classics like “Aan”, “Parwana” and “Madhumati”, speaks about loneliness whereas S. Rehman, one of the last practicing poster artists in Mumbai is shown giving instruction to assistants to fill in colour. Rehman works with Alfred Theatre on Grant Road and reveals that he still has work because the owner of Alfred Theatre is himself an artist and thus respects artists like Rehman.

Diwakar Karkare recollects how he worked the famous rugged look for the most loved actor of Bollywood Amitabh Bachchan by painting with a knife, to realize the angry-young persona given to the actor by Salim-Javed. Parvez, who once ruled the banner industry in Lucknow is now surviving by painting the number plates of bikes. The film is produced by V. S Kundu and shot by Nagaraj Revenkar.