Film memorabilia become collector's items

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">NEW DELHI: When Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan came to the Capital recently for an interaction with his fans at the India Habitat Centre (IHC), people kept coming back to the same place for days, the attraction being the exhibition-cum-sale of original posters of the Big B''s films.<br />The poster of his debut film <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Saat Hindustani</span> was priced at Rs 5500, and the billboard of the glitzy multi-starrer <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Shaan</span> had a price-tag of Rs 20,000.<br />At the recently-concluded International Film Festival of India too, a distinctive feature was an exhibition of rare photos and posters tracing the history of Indian cinema.<br />Yes, stills, posters, lobby cards and other film memorabilia, long recognized as ''movie art'' with a price tag in the western world, are now being treated as collector''s items in India also. <br />Earlier this year, if Mumbai was the location of India''s first large-scale sale of film posters, photos, showcards and lithographs, organised by the auction house Osian''s, Delhi got its chance recently at the auction of film memorabilia organized by Bowrings Fine Art Auctioneers. <br />Just as in the case of other art items, the older and rarer a film souvenir, the higher the prices. <br />Stills from <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Raja Harishchandra</span>, India''s first full-length Hindi feature film dated 1913, went for a whopping Rs 1,60,000. <br />Going under the hammer at the Bowrings auction were rare stills, posters, lobby cards and synopsis booklets procured from the collections of eminent film historian Bhagwan Das Garga and Riyad Vinci Wadia, whose grandfather J B H Wadia established Wadia Movietone in 1933. <br />If a still from the Satyajit Ray classic <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Devi</span> went for Rs 75,000 at the auction, another from the golden oldie <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Mugal-E-Azam</span> featuring Madhubala was sold for Rs 50,000.<br />Also going on sale were posters from blockbusters like <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Sholay</span>, that went for Rs 12,000, <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Satyam Shivam Sundaram</span>, that was sold for Rs 40,000, and <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Mera Saaya</span>, going for Rs 55,000. <br />"In India, people adore cinema... They feel a lot for their films. No wonder film memorabilia should have a nostalgic value for them," says Patrick Bowring, deputy chairman, Bowrings. <br />"People are realising the value of film memorabilia, and old vintage items have many takers," says Ramona Sood, director, Dreams Online, organisers of the Amitabh Bachchan poster exhibition, who also auction film memorabilia and celebrity-related items on their website ''cafedreams.com''. <br />Posters and lobby cards featuring Meena Kumari and Madhubala are the most popular, says Sood, adding posters sell from Rs two to Rs 15,000. <br />Cafedreams.com has on sale collectibles as old as a still from <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Aladdin and the Lamp</span> dating back to 1927 and priced at Rs 4800 to a poster from <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Umrao Jaan</span> (1981) having a price tag of Rs 15,000. <br />With the growing demand for film memorabilia, sellers are on a hunt for such items. <br />"Finding items worth buying is not easy. We are constantly reaching out to sources like collectors and primary sources like production houses and filmmakers," says Sood. <br />Bowring says it did take a "bit of an effort" to put together the collection for the Delhi auction, and that they were lucky to chance upon the archives of Garga and Wadia, the Garga items forming the core of the collection auctioned.<br />But buying and selling of film memorabilia is only just catching up in India, says Bowring.<br />"While Indian contemporary art has an established market, Indians are at the moment warming up to film memorabilia. Hence, it is a new market and both collectors and sellers need some time to gauge the importance of the items," he says about the new trend in India. <br />"But we are confident that the market will hot up. There is definitely a great potential for film collectibles in India," says Bowring adding that they are planning another auction in the recent future, with Mumbai being the most probable venue. </div> </div>