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| Edited By: |Source: PTI |Updated: Jun 26, 2011, 07:33 PM IST
With this Canadian city abuzz with activities thanks to the IIFA awards, another province in the country is also having a brush with Bollywood, courtesy an exhibition on Indian film art.
The Institute for Contemporary Culture at the Royal Ontario Museum is hosting Bollywood Cinema Showcards: Indian Film Art from the 1950s to the 1980s, a visual journey through the history of Bollywood advertising. Curated by Deepali Dewan for the institute in collaboration with the Hartwick Collection, Bollywood Cinema Showcards will be on view in the special exhibitions gallery of the museum till October 2.
"Bollywood Cinema Showcards is a unique opportunity for visitors to see this rare collection of vintage cinematic art, bringing early Bollywood culture and design to life," says Janet Carding, director and CEO of the museum.
"I'm delighted that the museum is contributing in such as significant way to this year-long celebration of India in Canada and the Bollywood experience in Toronto surrounding the International Indian Film Academy Awards," Janet adds.
According to Dewan, "This exhibition provides a rare opportunity to explore the evolution of a specific form of advertising associated with the Hindi commercial cinema centered around Mumbai. These showcards combine paint and photography and are a unique aspect of South Asian visual culture, following their equally as remarkable predecessors."
The exhibition embodies the quirky and colourful style of India's cinematic culture with a display of rare, vintage showcards, colourful hand painted photo collages commissioned to advertise the release of Bollywood films, originally exhibited in display cases outside cinema theatres.
The exhibition features over 120 works, including 77 original showcards from the private collection of Angela Hartwick and a selection of posters, lobby cards and film booklets from the museum's permanent collection.
The installation is organised chronologically, tracing the aesthetic and thematic evolution of Bollywood graphic design as seen in its advertising, from the years after independence through the liberalisation of India's economic policies in the early 1990s.
To celebrate Bollywood Cinema Showcards, the museum has installed a 15 x 36-ft. billboard titled 'Bollywood Hero', a theme that focuses on the recurring role of the male hero in most Bollywood films.
Commissioned specifically for the Museum from Suresh Sandal Arts, a studio in Mumbai, the work of art is installed in the Hyacinth Gloria Chen Court.
Also on view is "Embellished Reality: Indian Painted Photographs" from the 1880s to the 1940s. This exhibition brings together 75 works from the museum's permanent collection, never before shown in public.
A series of ancillary lectures, films, panel discussions and free public tours led by prominent guests are also being held till October.
