Titles and Posters
When I came up with the title “BHOOT” everybody thought it was cheap and comical. But once they saw it along with the artwork on the poster the same people thought it was brilliant. I always felt a title combined with an artwork of a poster can communicate more about a film than even a full length trailer. That is because the title kind of encompasses the subject matter of the film in totality especially when it’s a single word and the poster design along with a tag line gives it the weightage and the genre clarity and also sometimes if there are one or two lines on the poster on what it’s about, it rouses tremendous interest to see the film first day first show.
My first ever conscious study of a movie poster was of Steven Spielberg’s “JAWS”. The poster shows a girl swimming naked and a shark with its jaws open vertically rising towards the girl. In small letters somewhere in a corner of the poster there were these words “She was the first”. The font size and the placement of the words “She was the first” were designed to almost make you feel that the makers are telling you in confidence a deadly secret and they don’t want the shark and the girl to hear it.
In the poster of Ridley Scott’s “ALIEN”, in a kind of take-off from Stanley Kubrick’s “2001 A Space Odyssey”, there is a highly surrealistic image of an egg seemingly in outer space and you kind of see the beginning of a crack in the shell of the egg. The tag line on the poster goes “In space no one can hear you scream”. This was done just to draw attention to the fact that sound needs a medium to travel and since outer space does not have that, suddenly there is a huge emphasis on the ultra loneliness of the crew of the space ship.
One poster which really caught my attention during those early days was one with the lines on it going like this…
“It came from a distant planet on a hunt.
It chose the wrong man to hunt”.
Arnold Schwarzenegger in
“PREDATOR”
On one hand by using the word “it” and a “distant planet” and “hunt”, the poster clearly gave the idea that the film is about an outer space creature and that it’s hostile. The 2nd line “It chose the wrong man to hunt” highlighted the super Action hero image “Schwarzenegger” was enjoying at that time.
An old Clint Eastwood film called “The High Plains Drifter” had this image of a man coming from a distance on a horse back in the suggestion of a peaceful looking town. The line on the poster was “Everything was quiet until the day he drifted into town” thereby preparing us for the action we can expect when he reaches town and that obviously we get to see if and only if we go to see the film. Also just check the high-drama in the simplistic sounding title “The High Plains Drifter”. It tells us so much about the character without telling a thing. “Who is he? Why does he keep drifting? What is it about him and the high plains? What is he looking for? Why does he create trouble wherever he goes?” are the multiple questions which come rapidly into your mind thereby building your curiosity that much more to want to see the film.
Another poster which probably had the most intense emotional condensation I have ever seen ever in a movie poster is of a movie called “Death Rides a Horse”. The poster shows a man riding away through a hangman’s noose and the line on the poster goes “After waiting for 20 years it’s a shame that you can kill him only once”.
The sheer drama what this one line told me about the film is about, almost gave me goose flesh at that time. How much would the protagonist be hating the antagonist to continue his quest for revenge for 20 years and what could the antagonist have done to the protagonist for him to seek such terrible revenge?
The poster for James Cameroon’s “ABYSS” had a line proclaiming “After everything you have ever seen of high adventure there’s ‘ABYSS’.
The sheer pride and the confidence with which the makers proclaim that makes you feel intimidated by the film even before you enter the theater.
Coming to our dear desi bollywoodies the concept of movie posters as an art form was and is almost non-existent. That’s because the emphasis here is always on “Who is in the film?” rather than “What is it about?” They will just put all the faces of the actors whoever big or small is in it. That’s mostly because the bollywoodies work in an extreme fear psychosis, that the audience won’t come into the theatre whereas Hollywood works on a pride and confidence and is almost teasing the audience.
The posters of the sexual harassment film “DISCLOSURE” with big stars like Michael Douglas and Demi Moore just had a woman sitting in the lap of a man and you can’t see the faces of the actors. It’s just written “starring Michael Douglas and Demi Moore”. Just imagine a bollywoodie putting a poster with no faces on it, if there are big stars in his film.
The tragedy of us bollywoodies is that 90% of them promote everything about the film except the content, and that is especially true of our posters.
Anyway leaving bollywood aside and coming back to the wonderful art of movie posters the greatest example of how a poster can make a great huge opening weekend possible is that of “Blair Witch Project”. The low budget film “Blair Witch Project” released along with the Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman starrer “Eyes Wide Shut” directed by Stanley Kubrick.
“Blair Witch Project” starring nobodies and directed by a nobody, opened far better than “Eyes Wide Shut” taking the entire lot of Hollywoodies by surprise, thanks to just one poster design as the makers did not do any other publicity in terms of promos, theatrical trailers etc for lack of money.
The poster just shows the close-up of very scared girl looking into a camera seemingly held by her own hand with extreme fear in her eyes. This image coupled with the lines on the poster “Four students went into the woods near maryland to do a documentary on the legend of the Blair witch… Months later their footage was found”. This amazing work of art got the cash registers ringing and how!
The strongest statement ever a movie poster has made on me is of the Oliver Stone written Milas Foreman film “People VS Larry Flynt” based on the real life story of Larry Flynt the pornographer. The film’s poster has a close-up of a woman’s crotch and Woody Harrelson playing the protagonist poses in the classic crucified Jesus pose against the woman’s vagina in the shape of her panties. This artwork of the films poster basically sums up the point of the film that it is religion which acts as a spoil sport in matters of sexual pleasure. This poster I think is one of the greatest pieces of art I have ever seen for its sheer imaginative brilliance and the stunning philosophical statement it makes. I rate the designer of this poster as a far greater artiste than Michelangelo, Van Gogh, M.F.Hussain etc.
P.S: Before you guys jump up on me for making that last sacrilegious statement let me tell you that I prefer Himesh Reshamiya to Mozart and strip-tease dancing to Bharatnatyam. For me art is about what I, Me and Myself feel good about.
I wouldn’t want an M.F.Hussain painting for free but I would pay anything to have a blow up of the People v/s Larry Flynt poster on my wall.
I am posting some of my favourite movie poster arts in here.
Please remember that these posters taken from the net did not necessarily appear in the same way as when those films released. Over the years in subsequent releases they kept on changing. My comments in the article were on the very original posters such as how I saw them in the theaters.
Bhoot Poster 1
Bhoot Poster 2
Bhoot Poster 3
Alien
Disclosure
Jaws
People vs Larry Flynt
Phoonk 1
Phoonk 2
Phoonk 3
Categorized as Film, My Take
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The Use Of Titles & Posters For a Film | DesiPundit
[...] Gopal Varma has an interesting essay on the use of titles and posters in drawing interest to a film. My first ever conscious study of a movie poster was of Steven [...]
I’m the first to comment this time you suckers !!
Yessss, I always loved RANGEELA wall posters… Those immature days of mine reminds me of many things !!! … Urmila was sooo “Yummy” … I used to hit my bicycle to something while staring at those posters… Even if a porn/adult film poster was next to RANGEELA poster, I used to ignore the porn ones and watch Urmila …
numbers doesnt matter anyhow…………hahhaaa……
cheers……..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlo1R4×1hV4&feature=related
look at this…rangeela music release in 1995…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlo1R4×1hV4&feature=related
It is ok for the filmi buffs but what about the sishyas of ur damn fucking,artistic,aesthetic and emotional Athyaachaar philosophies like us??????
It is really a ardent boring post especially the ‘P.S’……..what made you to be so scared about fans of M.F.Hussian,etc etc ……i mean why do u want to give an explanation for that????….hahha….that really sounds funny…….
anyways……cheers ramu…..
varma,
look at this poster and tell me what you see first..be frank
http://www.impawards.com/2003/posters/le_divorce_ver4.jpg
In hollywood there are well know poster designers like ‘Robert McGinnis’, ‘Drew Struzan’, etc.
Do we have few such in Indian Films?? Who designs posters for your movies?? self?
I still remember the massive SHIVA wall poster where the Nagarjuna & his guys stand next to the rail track… also I liked those small wall posters of SHIVA where no characters/persons shown except a FIRM FIST holding a cycle chain, watching that poster itself gave me an adrenalin, and that made me watch the movie again & again…
@ RGV Sir
Exellent Subject , , , , , ,
but when you are going to pasting your photo on your movie Posters ( with your Brilliant Art )
What does philosophy means to you ….?
and
If one Individual sitting Idle after completely digested all Philosophy’s and not practicing it that means he is ?
I don’t know why you are so proud/impressed with your BHOOT and PHOONK posters,
among your films I very much got caught up with the posters of following films:
Rangeela
Shiva
Satya
Kaun
Company
RGV ki Aag
Agyaat
Mast
I will put your Name to my Son
Did you Meditate ever ?
RGV – for a movie like SARKAR do you dare you design a poster without Amitabh’s picture on it…?
I don’t want to contradict with you, but .. does Indian movie goers get attracted towards a better designed poster than a portrait of a person on the poster, especially if that person is someone like Amitabh ?
Dronacharya,
I also wanted to share something with our readers. First coming to the best of the best posters of sheer passion or madneess displayed comes “The Silence of the Lambs”. In the images, the death’s head on the moths’ backs is not their natural pattern, but a superimposed miniature image of Salvador Dalí and Philippe Halsman’s In Voluptas Mors, which forms the image of a skull from naked bodies (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dali_women_skull.jpg). This has blown my mind away…
Another similar incident which has blown my mind away, and forgetting even is difficult was a B or C grade Tollywood film, which had Vijayashanti in the lead role that had a tag line “Lady SuperStar Vijayashanti In & As…”…The irony lies here…the movie’s name – SAHASA BAALUDU VICHITRA KOTI (Daring Boy & Strange Monkey). What the F* did the designer wanted to convey is still a baffling mystery to me.
Ekalavya.
That link doesn’t work. Here is the Link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dali_women_skull.jpg
“The tragedy of us bollywoodies is that 90% of them promote everything about the film except the content, and that is especially true of our posters”
How can they promote the content, they are smart enough to realise its non-existent.
Even you have used close-up of superstars in your posters eg Amitabh Bachchan in Sarkar. However the content of the movie was good :)
An observation: you said “us bollywoodies” and then say “them” instead of us. For a moment you feel a part of bollywood and then you disown them (of course intentionally). Or is it just you consider yourself in the different bracket(10%)
very informative article.. some of my favorite hollywood film poster art along with the ones you mentioned are ‘Secretary- the woman in a sexy pose from behind and the title ‘assume the position’. the american beauty had a phenomenally simple poster – the girl’s belly and a rose. Then perhaps the greatest horror film poster – The Exorcist’ .. the exorcist standing under the street lamp loking up at the window of the room where the girl/ghost is and all in black and white..
Of course the best indian poster – the 100th day poster of Siva (telugu). Just the Chain and nothing else, a clear tribute to the cult classic…
Hello Ramu,
Imagine if Sarkar poster has only Amitabh’s hand waving to the crowds after he reached home from Hospital?
you have kept this scene in trailors but not in posters?
Gaayam”s poster is also marvellous.
Jagapathi babu in the seen in the letters is a spectacular.
Also there is other poster which all the actors line up is also good.
If anyone remembers Gayams posters
Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Parinda also had a fantastic line on the poster,
The most powerful movie ever made.
Something sensible at last !.. My vote is for Alien…for me the best goes to ‘Secretary’ and ‘The Graduate’
M.F Hussain, Van gogh and Michelangelo should not come on the same line.. M.F Hussain belongs to a more elite group [ painters who abuse painting ].. Mozart = mr. Ashutosh Go-worker to some extant…too flowery..and too light and poor sense of drama, more like ARR, but there are other intellectual dimentions to them which are very rare… HR too is not a sound artist, I think he gets hard by listening to others work before doing his :) and definitely not 1% as creative as Nadeem, forget Mozart.
Goodbye !
- truth_hurts/sanjayk
Ramu – Irrespective of the content in the movies, I ALWAYS liked your film TITLES..
I don’t know how you manage to decide such crisp & apt titles …
I hate titles like “Kshemanga velli labhamga Randi”, “Aaj thera jindagi mein ..”, “Pyar Pyar keliya”, “bull shit bull shit keliya..”, “there gaand mein mera ungli hein..”
Dear ramu,
I loved the posters of manirathnam films and your films.
Mani’s Bombay had a peculiar style in the posters. There were a lot of white dots on every poster which appeared like a ‘ruined wall’ with splashed white paint.
I believed that the carelessly splashed white paint dots make a sense of ‘’wreck and ruin which Mumbai experienced after the communal riots. That design which makes the posters look ‘untidy’ communicate clearly about the ‘condition of Riot worn Mumbai’.
Then another poster I loved was again a 1993 manirathnam film ‘thiruda thiruda’. It had many creative posters. There was one poster which shows an untidy, villager looking prashanth [one of the lead actor] protecting heera [only her backside is shown] with a riddle from the rain. That poster instantly created a ‘wide screen’ impact on me. The frame composition of that poster is just like a cinemascope screen.
I was studying in 6 th or 5 th standard then and I am banned by my parents to watch the movie because it had erotic song scenes which I found immensely creative and impossibly beautiful and brilliant after 4 years when I made an entry to adolescence.
The songs ‘chandralekha’ got a national award for best art direction and the song ‘thee thee’ got another national award for best choreography [which lighted up and composed brilliantly by Mani and P C sreeram. Salute to Rahman for the stylish song.]
There was another poster from ‘thiruda thruda’ which shows the silhouettes of two men dancing on a weather worn wall. The lighting is close to the ‘wild west’ brown. It was awesome.
Then Satya, Chakravarti’s eyes showed in the backdrop of a gun wounded fiber glass which almost looked like a ’spider’s web’.
Sarkar is another good one. Jungle also had a good design. Even the last film Agyaat had good posters and real peppy captions.
In English films, I like the poster works of Alien, From Dusk till dawn, Jaws, No country for old men, Pulp fiction, reservoir dogs, the godfather, taxi driver, femme fatale and etc etc…
But one brillliant work in my opinion is of ‘pulp fiction’, in which uma thurman lie in a bed in most clichéd ‘pulp fiction’ costumes and the poster was exactly designed as a ‘pulp novel’s cover.
Having said all that about bollywoodies wanting to show stars over the content of the movie in their posters, your BHOOT posters also are doing the same. Of course the title screams horror film, but for someone who doesn’t understand Hindi, these posters may not convey anything except showing who’s in it.
Any ways..I’m not a film buff, but just this question came to my mind after reading your text and looking at each poster above. Have a good one.
After a long long time, I found an interesting article in ur blog. You have been boring me since many days.
This article kind of helps me in building my resume coz it should attract employers and tell about what I am.
Thanks.
ramu: why god why?????????????????why did u kill ysr!!!!!????????????????????
god:- ganda hain par dhanda hain!!!!!!!!!!(company ishstyle)
Who designed SHIVA Poster?
Embossing Nag’s pic in the title…..and hanging cycle chain..brilliant…
I was Surprised that u didnt mention Shiva here??
When RANN is going to release?
Many People use to call “Ramu” , “Varma”, Why don’t they touch Mr. “Gopal” ?
I want to tell u story of “Money Money” sequel ?? Its going to be in very limited budget…
How can i reach u??
Ramu ,
Your Photo like “Bruce lee” is amazing….How u managed that body??
Looking like “Pawan Kalyan”….:) …really..
If Ayn Rand were alive and had she been writing a blog, would you comment in her blog Ramu?
I mean I see a lot of ppl here who follow your blog so religiously (Don’t know if they like YOU so much or YOUR BLOG). So that made me think, if RGV would follow any body’s blog so religiously in his life and couldn’t think of any body alive. Only Ayn Rand came to my mind.
Did you ever wanted to meet Ayn Rand in person? If you had the opportunity of meeting her, would you have taken her Autograph?
BTW, did you ever give an autograph? If yes, when?? And to who???
What is the hardest punishment you ever received?
(Don’t say having to read my comments :))
thanks a lot for this post… am on my way.
Did you ever go on a vacation? Even in your childhood, college days..etc??
What is your favorite vacation spot?? or any place that you consider as your happy place in this world…even if its a local park or your own backyard..
Damn..I just realized, I asked the wrong question above. I can kinda guess what your response to that question would be. Darn..I can’t delete the comment, so let me rephrase it.
I meant your favorite OUTDOOR places, if you know what I mean. ;)
say sumthng abt d ppl whu jumppp -” am d first to comment” on your post’s…i see them as funny ppl ..you got to write about their logic n mindset-atleast for fun.
If other Bollywoodies cannot do, you can certainly do..right? can we anticipate some best designed posters from RGV’s “Company”.
i am the 41st to comment
hollywood emphasize content, bollywood emphasize actors
difference lies with the audience
hollywood is catering to the audience
who thinks that there could be something profound in a movie
bollywood is catering to the audience
for which film is an entertainment
no indian goes in a theater for the sake of a new idea
reason is simple
for ten thousand years
india has been doing nothing but philosophizing
your sabziwala can give you some really profound philosophy
although, he himself would not understand what he is talking about
but he had heard lofty talks from the very birth
philosophy is hammered on an indian from right left and center
and you too will not understand what he is talking
because of the language he will use
he will use the language indian philosophy uses
but you are the one at loss here
content of a film – you are joking
in india film is an entertainment
and it will never be anything more than that
those who think otherwise
belong to the category of ‘public school educated idiots’
having no idea about the country they live in, listening rock music – lol
@29 Pradeep Maddy
Bcoz Gopal is “inbetweenist”…. : )
I think Gopal would be an apt name for RGV.
hahahaha ;)
@14 Raaj K Modi
great poster….
@4 navekr
nice one….
@RGV
Ramu,
If you were shooting a sex scene…and you are watching through the camera…what would you see first?
lemme rephrase it…If you have to see a woman nude, what would your eyes see first?
OK, so the bottom line is, poster design is to bring in people to watch your movie? But I thought you don’t care about that!
Hi,
I am visiting u r blog from one month, after reading u r articles and reactions i want to tell you one thing, any time if u get bored or fucked up with either this blog or internet, please dont shut this blog just keep it running because, it appears like a practical encyclopedia of life which answered many of those questions of my life, which were not answered either by my education or by my upbringing, and not only this but also it entertains me more than anything even more than your films. So, keep going…………
I am guessing the women who get attracted to you are either are too dumb or too intelligent! What say?
@mojoshaan
I can explain you the logic & mindset of people who jump in and say: “I’m the first to comment” …
We do it JUST FOR THE FUCK OF IT… there is no logic or reason or anything there… one starts it and the others continues and it goes on… writing that crap doesn’t involve any thought, it only involves memory, a memory of someone doing it in the past.. which makes others do it again for a matter of LITTLE pride … for the same reason why we all doing million other similar things in our day-to-day life JUST FOR THE FCUK OF IT and take pride in it… for ex. what does winning in a running race gives you ?? .. nothing except PRIDE
@ Pradeep Maddy
Who designed SHIVA Poster?Embossing Nag’s pic in the title…..and hanging cycle chain..brilliant…
Answer: Telugu Movie director Teja who got paid by venkat akkineni Rs 500/-
There is one more interesting Shiva poster : Where no actor is shown and just the words ” SHIVA super Hit ” were crafted by charcoal on a stone wall..
.simply great !
thanks….this helped me more then any of ur posts tiil date.
even darna mana hai poster was a nice one…..and yes the sarkar as well as sarkar raj posters with punchlines strong enuf to attract all sorts of people.
whatever you say,it sounds me great.
Did u observe, in all ur movie posters u put the actor/actresses photos even though they are not required and also when you know that they don’t carry much weight(openings) in bollywood.
My Question is Y?
Ramu,
Interesting article from you. Thanks for posting.
I feel the posters of “KSHANA KSHANAM” (Telugu) are far ahead of their time and they are really captivating.
Ramu,
Does the actor’s expressions and acting skills constitute the CONTENT of a movie? and What do you mean by a good Screenplay?
Hii Ramu
I remember the theory that “SATYENDRA” said to u regarding library & its books…!!
Do you consider yourself as Library or book or neither..? & WHy ?
I felt like you are a true film maker on Indian cinema when i read this blog.
I felt like you know about cinema.
One thing I didn’t like is that why did you give explanation to everyone in the last about the poster you liked, that’s not you……man.
nice article.
a recent one i have liked is of JAMES CAMERON’S AVATAR.
the poster displays a shot of a bright planet. below it is a small line which says
“believe it, or not”
its jus awesome. tells me ders gonna be some unbelivable stuff in d movie…..
the visual is very attractive too!!!
among bollywood movies i loved posters and artwork of DEv.d. devdas shown withing a smirnoff bottle and the psychedellic colours and mood of the poster sets the tone. we all know devdas, we know his story….but yet the poster suggests how this ones gonna be hell lot of different and bold.
test
hey RGV….. did u seen “MEMENTO”….. the greatest masterpiece ever made…..
here is the memorable quotes from it…..
Natalie: What’s the last thing that you do remember?
Leonard Shelby: My wife…
Natalie: That’s sweet.
Leonard Shelby: …dying.
love to have a comment from u about this film……
ROMAN POLANSKI’s THE TENANT
I normally choose english DVDs myself, by looking at the poster and evaluating my vibrations for it…and everytime it worked great and that wud be my one of the most fav movies…similar thing happened with ROMAN POLANSKI’s THE TENANT…that day it was an old VCD sale in singapore…i stopped to have a look …there was this CD of the movie THE TENANT crushed between some other strange movies… but the poster of this instantly captured my attention…the poster shows a painting of lady upside down ( something like falling) and in foreground her face was exactly covered by the face of man dressed in suit and looking as if suffering from psychic disturbance…something like a lady soul entering a mans body… the story was the same…its about a gentleman who is so soft hearted that he often takes others problems …as the movie starts he happens to take an aparmtent for rent where a lady has earlier commited suicide by jumping out of the window…But he wont bother abt it and proceeds to take it …Though things are fine initially , slowly strange things start to happen…the gentleman notices some belongings of the dead lady in that apartment ..he gradually gets psychic and starts behaving like a lady and finally dresses up wierdly like a lady and he too jumps out of the window…The whole movie has a haunting narration both through direction and background music…and you will feel sad for the gentleman at the end when the two states of him are shown at the same time..the earlier state as a fresh and decent gentleman and the latest where he is in tragic and pathetic state in hospital….
When i saw the movie the hangover is everlasting and permanant….saw it more that 50 times…but i cursed ROMAN POLANSKI for his selection of the gentleman role…i felt the actor looked like a dumb fool….but latter i saw in titles its ROMAN POLANSKI himself who acted the role and bit my tongue with guilt…I wonder why he acted himself…but latter when i saw a lot of his interviews i realized that the real nature of POLANSKI and the gentleman character in the movie are exaclty same…then i learnt that when an actor performs a role that is close to his real nature then the outcome is mindblowing and everlasting……..
THE BIGGEST THRILL IN MY LIFE!!!!!
THE BIGGEST THRILL IN MY LIFE!!!!!
THE BIGGEST THRILL IN MY LIFE!!!!!
I used to hangout near a coffee Hotel called Komati satti in a place called Bellam Market in Anakakapalli Town Me and my friend Mohd Jaani were the 2 most useless bums in our School. Every day without exception we used to watch Cinema Posters and used to listen new telugu songs which were played in Komati Satti Hotel’s music Deck and used to perform small dance bits by imitating NTR, ANR and Chiru near to the hotel.
Coming back to Anakapalli,Komati Satti Hotel the both of us used to stay in a room right next to the Hotel and most of the time we were broke and hence could not afford a Sambar Idly so like vagabonds we used to hangout in the Surrondings of Komati satti Hotel having ½ tea.
Also the Owner of the Hotel who used to walk around in the surroundings of Bellam Market,knew us by faces as we were constantly there even during the school hours. Many times I could see the distaste and disgust in his face of our behavior. One day he told me point blank on my face that I should be ashamed of myself that I am behaving so irresponsibly and advised me that I should think of my parents who are working hard and who will have expectations from my career and here I am neglecting studies and wasting my time on Cinema posters.
So for about couple of years Komati Satti Hotel and bellam market were a like a 2nd home to me.
After I left Anakapalli and years later when I became a Recording Dance Group Owner by named “Kanaka Maha Laxmi Dancing Group”, performed many live shows and became very popular Dance Group Owner among coastal districts. I was invited by the Sarpanch of Anakapalli to perform mobile live dance show as part of dasserah festival. I accepted his invitation and Our entire Dance Group arrived Anakapally town in a Matador Van equipped with audio, costume and make up needs. As I enquired with organizers of the show, I came to know that the Bellam Market and Komati satti Hotel were not in the actual route map of the show. I immediately asked them to include those two places as part of live road show.
As the show arranged in Tractor trolley, it’s almost like procession, moving slowly in the streets of Anakapally Town. Me and my co artists were magically changing costumes and performing Mass dance bits as requested by surrounding crowd.
As the procession almost reaching Komati Satti Hotel, I was performing dance for the song “Aresukoboyi paaresukonnanu” . I was dressed in Green color shirt, Yellow color bell bottom trouser with white belt and also having fully black goggles. In that particular dress I was almost looking like NTR and posing like him.
When song came to an end exactly opposite to the Komati Satti Hotel, the enthusiastic young mass crowd got up into the tractor trolley and garlanded me in a huge manner and people all around started clapping. I could easily identify that Komati Satti Hotel’s Owner was one of them. As my whole face was covered with colors, flowers and black goggles, he couldn’t recognize me but enjoying my show anything like. After a minute while I signaled my troop to stop playing the music and briskly jumped down from the trolley on my two legs. By pushing aside the crowd I quickly reached the Hotel’s owner …. Still he was not identifying me ….. I removed my goggles… Now he could… he could… I asked him for a mug of water .he was bit in guilty and surprising mood. I washed my face with water.. Now I caught the Hotel owner’s face looking at me in complete shock and disbelief.
No time I asked him for cup of Tea, he craftily blended a masala Tea and offered me with infinite love. Once I sip off the tea, just I said thanks to him and turned back to move towards trolley. An unknowing object was held my left hand and I couldn’t move forward. When I seeing back the object was the right hand of the hotel owner.
When I turned back, he pulled and voluntarily hugged me. That the Hug that it happened just opposite to the Komati Satti Hotel was about the biggest thrill in my life.
P.S: Later Mohd Jaani who was my roommate became Auto Jaani and running an Auto in Hyderabad City.
Ramu – your blog is one of the pure and honest places I can visit .. because there is nothing I detest more than the stench of lies
@surap_surap
Nice narration… !!!!
Ramu – your blog is one of the FEW pure and honest places I can visit .. there is nothing I detest more than the stench of lies
@ gnanadeep
Read original Article “The biggest thrill in my Life” posted by RGV.. This is just parady to that actual one.
you belittle our film industry …..and make some shitty movies as well……can you find any faults with hollywood or just happy to bootlick at any given time
your sucking up to hollywood reminds me of gulshan grover in rangeela, ironically you directed that one :)
the following movies didn’t have any big superstars, and i really don’t care and remember the posters
iqbal
khosla ka ghosla
kaminey
satya
company
ab tak chappan
black friday
a wednesday
the big man will be really upset at you for calling the hindi film industry as bollywood :)…..and also for the contempt
Recently the poster I liked very much is Agyaat’s I think it was really splendid work, The one which shows the hands sweeping ground as if some unknown force pulling from back..and the marks of fingers dragged along the ground explains fear, and the Vehicle’s headlights focusing towards hands.Indeed, Jeep’s door opening shows that the man who is driving was not conscious with the happening and as he faced something unnoticible, unbeliveble that took pulled him to death . It was simply awesome poster till date explaining the concept clearly with the taglines and exhibits fear with a good art work.
If thats the case,even BHOOT posters shows every tom dick and harry present in the movie.
I want to know the name of designer who did that poster
In the People vs Larry Flynt poster, the guy is also wearing the American flag as his underwear. What do you think does it signify? That he doesnt give a damn about the country. Why would he do that. The country is anyways a free country regarding sex and freedom of expression?
Among the recent posters, munnabhai mbbs had this poster, which depicted Sanjay Dutt in a doctor’s get up, but above his head there was this description, “Apun”, Above Sunil Dutt, it was “Apun ka baap. This itself signified what the movie was about
Inspite of your interest in posters, I find your posters mostly dull
But this article gave an insight of why artists wish to work in the film industry. Writers, painters, other artists are always searching for inspirations and topics. The film however, gives them a specific subject and all their creativity is required to be channeled only on attaining that goal. Thats why singers want to be background singers in films, music directors get their subjects for songs and background scores, and poster designers get their subject for making posters. And it all starts with the writer!
Here are some taglines for ur upcoming films
Rann:
1) Does the media make use of politics or do the politicians make use of the media
Rakta Charitra
1) If you are hunting a common man, find and finish him. Because, when he strikes back, he wont miss!
2) They thought the common man is no match for them. One man, however, was not a common man!
Like RGV got f***ed up by Ayn Rand philosophy, director Mahesh bhatt screwed up U.G.Krishnamurti (not J.Krishnaumrti) philosophy. Mahesh got screwed up so much so that he wrote three books on U.G.
‘Those who talk about death don’t want to die. I don’t want to go and I don’t want to stay.’- U.G. Krishnamurti
Best of U.G :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6n6TfTIR2c
Hi ramu
will you marry me?
I’m a beautiful woman with phuntashtic brains and i think you ae the sexiest man on this planet
Agyaat poster sucked big time…how come you didnt see it?
priyanka aka nisha kothari looking ready for another blow job was the biggest turn off EVER!! or did you assume that everybody thinks lke you and would be enticed? Tch Tch!
its no wonder the film was a disastor
Ramu bhai,
You forgot to mention that how a poster could screw up the expectations. For example: you mentioned about a movie poster in which Sridevi is shown with her saree lifted up to her thighs. but when you watched the movie expecting some steamy scenes, you were presented with whole different emotional movie.
@surap
nice one
Since you constantly talk about porn-if you had the guts to showcase your films as porn with the likes of nisha kothari or antara mali f&*^)&^ing you directly on screen you would probably have more sucess than if you tried to pass off these cheap sexual fantasies as legit cinema and got respectable companies like UTV to fund your libido.
What is the caption/tagline for the movie “Raktha Charitra”?
‘fear can get the bitterest of enemies together’ and the flag design of ek poster was one of the best ever seen…wats up with that project ramuji?
Shatrugan Sinha as NTR in Rakta Charitra (Hindi)
Mohan Babu as NTR in Rakta Charitra (Telugu).
I just cant wait for the movie…….
who was the other guy in Karate photo?
Untill now the posters I liked in Indian cinema are
SHIVA
RAATHRI
GEETANJALI
ANJALI
Some of the posters discussed here are by Drew Struzan. If anyone is interested in this kind of material, you may want out check out the DVD bonus material of Frank Darabont’s latest movie “The Mist”. It contains the a special feature called “Drew Struzan: An appreciation of an artist” where Frank and other director’s talk about movie posters and what it means to them, much as in the same vein as as RGV does it here. Also Drew Struzan talks about his work.
-Mifune
I am interested in movie taglines. I believe once I saw a tag line for one of your movies (not sure which one Ratri/Dhaiyam ?) which says “Don’t say we din’t warn you”. Not sure why it was not used more during marketing. I thought it was quite clever in how it builts the excitment without actually saying much.
-Mifune
Comment #29 — Good one :)
Ramu ji… How much time on an average do you take to write any article in this blog? Do you write what ever comes to your mind at that point or do you think and rethink to write something… as I am doing now to write this comment :)
Hi Mr Ramgopal
Do you think fan base is as necessary as posters and titles to run it? Every hero believes fans are his assets and he should have more for good openings. whats your take on this?
Do you write Diary? or did you ever??
If yes, why? and if no, why?
…..if you care to answer, plz do…
HI Ramu
I was in my third or fourth standard, going to school in a rickshaw. I saw a medium sized poster with Venkateswara swamy on the extreme left and Nagarjuna standing before it towards the right with Sudarshanam in one hand and blood droplets on his forehead. On his right, in front of the dark background, film title appears in white “GOVINDA GOVINDA”
I was in my 9th class, and went to Jagadamba centre with my parents to buy a new school bag. Jagadamba junction, well known for its 70 MM theatres also had Chitralaya 70MM just behind it where Hindi movies were frequently shown. That evening, as I came upon the road, I could see a sea of banners all over the road “Intha pedda hit ichina Balayya babu ki maa abhinandanalu”. I never had a specific liking for Balakrishna, or for that instance, any of the heroes, mostly it were the fights and songs of a movie that interested me. If a movie had good fights it was the best movie for me even if it had the worst storyline. Caught surprised by the ardent fan following Balakrishna had, I kept waiting for the theatre to arrive as we were walking along the bag-selling stores. I saw a huge banner with Balakrishna dressed in a yellow coat with black goggles and a smaller banner in front of it with him in the centre in a village getup and 3 girls hugging him who were supposed to be his sisters in the film as they did not look like heroines. Underneath I could find title “SAMARASIMHA REDDY” again with Balakrishna in white dress holding an axe dripping blood. It looked to me like a bumper bonanza film with good dances, sister sentiment, and ample fights looking at the axe. I immediately decided I must persuade my parents to take me to that movie irrespective of my non-fandom for mass heroes.
That movie had ample effect on me that to this day it remains the best mass movie I have ever seen and Balakrishna became Balayya for me.
shatrugan sinha and mohan babu as NTRs.is it a rumor or is it confirmed?
This question now is irrelevant and you can anyway chose not to answer but i can’t resist asking.
You always claim you don’t have a family and you don’t love anyone. But what explains the fact that one day while you were with nana patekar discussing about Ab Tak Chappan, you reminiscised about your late father and couldn’t control sobbing. Wasn’t that love or affection? If not, what was that?
are u married ?
Ramu,
Why we need that ” Silly Fellow” Mohan Babu as NTR?
Please think some other….
“Zoo NTR” is also fine…
Wow! This was indeed a perfect post on posters (mind the alliteration). I believe Phoonk had the best posters. As an ad agency owner (Inox Vadodara is our client), we simply loved creating a collage of the Phoonk posters for designing a standee at Inox. Which one, among your films was your favourite? Let me guess, was it that of Satya being put next to a poster of Illayaraja movie?
Regards
Prakash Gowda
@surap_surap
liked your parody .. very funny .. u shud make a short film on it and publish it on Youtube..
To my imagination Telugu comedian ‘Venu Madhav’ can do justice to that kind of parody.. in fact I imagined him in your place while reading it..
Going by the quality of movies that I’ve been seeing in Telugu for the past couple of years, I can try and guess the state of mind of the debutante directors. Although they say that they want to give a hit:
1. Some directors probably feel that just by making a movie they have achieved their goal in life. Probably the struggles they had gone thru have brought them down to their knees (craft-wise / morale-wise / otherwise)
2. Some directors probably feel that yielding to the demands of so-called industry-experts and making a movie is better strategy then being stubborn and not making a movie at all.
(Probably) They are right provided they are
— happy with their end-product.
OR
— unhappy with their end-product and it still becomes a hit.
3. Some directors probably do not have a basic idea of how poor they are in their so-called craft. They think that, making a movie that even resembles something like a movie itself is an achievement.
4. Some directors probably, in the process of doing a careful balancing act owing to the demands of producers/stars end-up screwing their script.
5. Some directors probably, in the process of doing a careful balancing act with the script, did a careless job with the demands of producers/stars.
6. Probably some directors already knew the fate of their movie by the time they were done.
7. Some directors are probably poor victims of fate. Most probably, their movie never saw the light of the day.
8. The script might be great. The execution could be compromised if it demands complicated production values such as animation, period settings, extreme weather etc. Still worse if the script is changed during shooting as the impact would be lost forever.
9. Even a simple editing activity can turn the tables for or against the movie. Example: In Magadheera, the placement of a piece of the Kalabhairava scene in the beginning aroused the curiosity of audience so much that it made them endure boring love/romance sequences almost upto the interval.
10. Post-production process was not allowed sufficient time owing to sudden advancement of release date. This happens even in hollywood I heard.
11. Some directors are probably victims of their own poor judgement as to gauging how poorly/richly talented they are in the direction chair. I guess, this happens at various levels.
Examples:
*He/She may be a good at conceiving novel plots or stories and automatically assumes that he/she is a great scriptwriter.
*He/She may be a good at writing dialogues and automatically assumes that he/she is a great scriptwriter.
*He/She may be a good at making great scripts and automatically assumes that he/she is a great director in the making.
*He/She may be a good at visualizing fantastic scenes and automatically assumes that he/she is a qualified enough to translate it into reality. The translation requires good skills in communication, planning, coordination with various departments, working amiably with artistes etc.
@VijayDirects
If you were put some examples point wise, we could have understand it well..
In SATYA, JD kills Jeeva in a bar. Is that scene inspired or copied from GODFATHER?
In that scene the song “Alah miah” was played in background. Whose idea is to play that song in Background?
Do you believe there are two lives viz. personal and professional?
Does money fetches power or power fetches money???
What is your favorite dialogue in “THE GODFATHER”?
“NAA ISTAM”, Why this word always hurts or make anger of others???
The sarkar movie poster where big B looks straight into you and abhishek is behind him looking other side is a terrific poster from your movie collection
Do u think ” Color ” of the film is the key aspect in film making?
recently I was watching ur “Sarkar Raj:” it has very brilliant color framing….
not completely dull but highlighting ” Darkness”….awesome.
As u admired “Bruce Lee” u made body like that and practiced Karate…
Want to know did u ever tried of doing “Break Dance” (as your ardent fan of MJ)?
Dear ramu, you are very much right. i guess now a days people are seeing posters most of the time in theatre only when they go to watch the movie. what is attracting them to watch is the promos and trailers rather than posters as in earlier years as earlier poster was one of the main promo, not now. you did not write much about the titles. i remember once you wrote in blog that how you were attracted to watch a sridevi movie just by watching poster. and that was just a small scene in movie. love,Manoj
Do you celebrate any festivals? I know you are an atheist. But do you celebrate just for the fun of it??
Do you like music? what kind?? What’s your favorite album/track???
Do you watch TV? or do you find it a time waste?? If you do watch, then what is your favorite show???
DO you watch your own interviews anytime? How do you find them??
Did you ever googled your name on internet or on youtube??
Are you in facebook??
At last a write up devoid of whining.Good enjoyable writing.
Excellent imaginative design/reading of posters.Keep it up.
posters of a film are a great fascination to me i was waiting for your take on it,after reading your blog
i felt like having sex , with all my complete requirements for the first time.
what is the necessity of sex in movies,please explain
“This poster I think is one of the greatest pieces of art I have ever seen for its sheer imaginative brilliance and the stunning philosophical statement it makes. I rate the designer of this poster as a far greater artiste than Michelangelo, Van Gogh, M.F.Hussain etc.
P.S: Before you guys jump up on me for making that last sacrilegious statement let me tell you that I prefer Himesh Reshamiya to Mozart and strip-tease dancing to Bharatnatyam. For me art is about what I, Me and Myself feel good about.
I wouldn’t want an M.F.Hussain painting for free but I would pay anything to have a blow up of the People v/s Larry Flynt poster on my wall.”
Hi Ramu, By writing “P.S”, u have made it very clear that u know what u r talking. U have the ability to experience art but u do not have enough patience to stay there. Pls read “sculpting in time” by Andrei Tarkovsky. It’s only one profound book that i know which bridges art and film language together. ‘Ways of seeing’ by John burger also will stop u from making such strange statements. u r one wierdo Ramu!
at times u r very funny! When Devdas( Shahrukh’s) was released, u made a staetment which made me feel like doing a street-dance with jajjanakare janare song, honestly. U said that “Sanjay leela bansali was far more superior film maker than u” What a comedy u do sometimes!?!?!
Vaadiki meeku nakkaki naagalokaniki unnatha theda vundhi.
When i was in college one poster forced me to watch at any cost on first day.
That was Godzilla -size does matter.
http://www.impawards.com/1998/godzilla.html
did u like this poster???
Who is the music director of “Raktha Charithra”?
Question no.111
#Pradeep Maddy says:
As u admired “Bruce Lee” u made body like that and practiced Karate…
Want to know did u ever tried of doing “Break Dance” (as your ardent fan of MJ)?
Imagining you doing break dance like MJ with your typical facial expressions really thatz the ultimate belly laughter i had and anyone can have…
Does the energy of your expression of your cognitive patterns in words freezes your facial expressions or what?
The seriousness of your facial expressions always reflect as if you are sketching some murder plan in mind and talking something else…don’t know but thatz what it looks like when you are giving interview on tv
To understand nothing is to understand everything
Ramu!
Can you please write an article about sound mixing?
do you still dub your movies or do you use on site sound and how much importance do you give to sound mixing?
have u watched Jack Nicolson’s movie, ‘Bucket List’…
Ramu bhai,
I do not know the tagline for “Raktha Charithra” but thought of sharing some of my thoughts with you. (Infact I could not resist writing here)
If a man follows laws of jungle, history follows the path of blood
If a man has a conscience of predator, history is written in blood
If a man rises above ruthlessness, history follows the path of blood
Ramu,
Could there be a time when Ramu’s philosophy tells him that this films, moviemaking, fame and all is a trash and to escape from this world just to enjoy life with women and alcohol ?
The interesting thing about High Plains Drifter for me is that one might ask the same questions after seeing the movie. Though Clint Eastwood as the director, never explicitly answers the questions, he just gives enough clues to make up your mind. But then he leaves the door open to other interpreations……Another equally impressive quote from HPD “They’d never forget the day he drifted into town.”.
The best Clint Eastwood Poster (and Movie) hands down is “Unforgiven” (the one with his back facing us with a gun in his hand). The sad part of that is, it feels so apt after seeing the movie. Not sure it makes (or made) anyone interested in the movie to begin with. Also it does not have any tagline. Not sure why they somehow did not use the great exchange between Eastwood and Gene Hackman
Little Bill – “I don’t deserve this. To die like this. I was building a house.”
Munny says – “Deserve’s got nothin’ to do with it.”
-Mifune
Have you watched “Maghadheera”?
I fought with the whole world that you will comeback with Rann…Don’t disappoint me
wat was ur reaction wen u first heard the lines SAPNE MAI MILTI HAI and GOLI MAAR BHEJE MAI?
RGV WHO DO U THINK IS THE BEST DIRECTOR OUT OF ALL UR ASSISTANT DIRECTORS WHO CAME OUT AND MADE FILMS
AND CAN WE EXPECT AN ARTICLE FROM YOU ON ASSISTING THE DIRECTORS
AND HOW MANY OF YOUR ASSISTANTS CAME OUT OF U AND MADE FILMS SINCE 1990
It sounds ramuji have copied the AGYAAT from BLAIR WITCH PROJECT movie
Why are you so messed up?
In phoonk the background score is awesome. i dont know why this guys always try to comment it. If you close your bloody mouth and ears, then hear the movie background score..you will get to know what is our rgv tallent..really awesome background score..
RGV sir u rockz always..there is no indian director hav guts to make a movie without a single song. these indian film directors(except our RGV) just have copied film making tallent that has been copy written from the same stupid indian film directors.
RGV rockz and he is my guru to make short films and i will direct a movie in next coming years.
Ur comment about the “Death Rides a horse” is Wrong… I do feel that the quoted text’s Amazing.. but its not from that movies poster!!
http://www.greatandhra.com/ganews/viewnews.php?id=16638&cat=&scat=4
Varma, couldn’t think any better poster for Raktha Charitra, the poster is FUCKING APT. The guy cleaning bloody sickle (can be taken as metaphor for cleaning his bloody history). The setting -white dhoti, rugged ground, boring well- is perfectly in tune with the actual ground conditions of my native place Anantapur and finally that line, a story inspired by real persons and real incidents, creates more interest among curious audience at the same time gives you more scope to create great cinematic moments.
Good job
Go
the hundredth day poster of Shiva is one of the most evocative posters in film.
as for the movie tag lines, one of my favorites in Indian movies is the one for Ghayal.
Ghayal -’the wounded who tore the world apart’.
sir
MAKE A FILM ON COWBOYS CONCEPT SIR….I’M EAGER TO HAVE SUCH KIND OF MOVIE IN YOUR DIRECTION
hi rgv sir my aim is 2 direct a movie i ma also intrested in making films u introduced several new faces not only in bollywood but also tollywood plz introduce me ramuji d telugu directors r just making commercial formula movies. dey r not doing it in realty.so sir plz reply me can u give me a chance……..? n sir ur student JD CHAKRAVARTHY is our relative….