A Careful Consideration of the Indian Movie Poster

Kathrine and I were walking through Mysore one afternoon when we came across a wall crowded with various Kannada, Tamil, and Hindi language movie posters. I took out my camera and took a photograph of the assortment.

Kat: They’re just posters. Why do you like them so much?
Me: Just posters?!? Don’t you see, my Danish, that the full range of human emotions is present on these posters? Look, see that man on the horse, he is displaying heroism. And that scowling mustachioed guy with the sword, he’s out for revenge. And that couple there: The girl has admiration for him but he only has lust in his eyes. And that guy looking sheepish as the girl plays hard-to-get, that’s the comedic folly of puppy love. And that woman with long hair and her arms outstretched, she’s expressing eternal joy and wonderment. And that family scene there with those three women, they’ve got grief, melancholia, and remorse. And that massive battle scene, there’s more pride and pain, more courage and cowardice. Here in these posters, as in India, you will find everything.

Kat: So you really like the movies then?
Me: Hmmm, actually, the movies I don’t much care for. They’re too long and, besides, I still can’t understand them. But these posters, yaar, I really love them!”









INTERLUDE – MY FAVORITE TAGLINE:

In Karnataka, the movie posters were particularly expressive. Also, it often seems like there is a whole category in Indian cinema for revenge flicks. So, perhaps inevitably, one of my favorite posters depicted a uniformed man on a rampage, giving his enemies a death scowl while he reached for his gun. The tagline read: “When God is silent, he is violent.” Yeah, you can pretty much guess what this one is about.