Going once, going twice...

The romance of the iconic umbrella song pyaar hua iqraar hua from Shree 420, the intensity of Mother India, which not only re-launched the late Nargis after her break-up with Raj Kapoor but also myriad remakes, the Dilip Kumar-Vyjayantimala-starrer Ganga Jamuna that started a trend of brothers on opposite sides of the law, a theme Bollywood would revisit again and again... It was nostalgia time as memorabilia from vintage Bollywood went under the hammer at the Osian auction on Friday.

The lot had among them memorabilia from early studios like Prabhat Film Studios, Prakash Pictures and Bombay Talkies which established filmmaking in India. Also in focus was the first family of film, the Kapoors, as well as artworks from old and not so old cult films like Mahal, Mughal-e-Azam, Guide, Junglee and Daag. The star line-up ranged from Raj Kapoor to Shah Rukh Khan and included legends then and now such as Meena Kumari and Madhubala to Amitabh Bachchan and Rajnikanth.

Rare three-sheeters from major Hollywood releases in India during the 1970s and 1980s such as Godfather II, Psycho III, Where Eagles Dare and Out of Africa only added to what many felt was a lifetime chance for film enthusiasts to own a credible piece of history with a genuine connect to an artiste.

"The auction is a heartfelt attempt at making Indian film memorabilia an indisputable collectible and give it respect like Hollywood and European film memorabilia," said Osian's founder-chairman Neville Tuli, whose organisation put together over 20 years of archiving and research pertaining to "this vast heritage".

The entire archives would soon be accessible with the first non-beta version of www.osianama.com. "It takes 10-12 years to build anything of consequence. Today, no one throws away publicity material. Instead, many are building museums and libraries for collections. Many wish to participate and help preserve this critical aspect of India's cultural heritage... over 90 percent of it has been destroyed forever," says he.

"The fragile nature of paper and the obsession with the present moment, so disrespecting our histories and the work of previous generations, means we have no time left and little to preserve. Still, the scale of commitment required is lacking. Unless the film fraternity, especially the younger generation, recognises this responsibility, the fact will be that the world's largest film industry will have the world's smallest collection of itself in physical and digital terms. Auctions such as The Greatest Indian Show on Earth bring to the surface this critical need."

For several decades, Osian's has worked to collect and preserve Indian and world cinematic heritage. Its landmark auction, The Historical Mela – ABC: Art, Book and Cinema, pioneered the market-building process for film memorabilia in India. In 2012, the first ever dedicated auction of Indian cinema memorabilia turned out to be a success with participation from the film fraternity and cinema enthusiasts. Records were established across all types of publicity material, recorded songs and memorabilia.

By the mid-2000s, the economic boom saw the nouveau riche transforming art - until then a preserve of only rich corporate houses and royals - into an accessible, consumable product. Tuli, who moved back to India after studying at Oxford and the London School of Economics, led this movement for change in attitudes. The trained economist, with virtually no background in the arts, recognised the unique opportunity in India's art history.

Cultural historian Mukul Joshi, who has followed Tuli's work, remembers those fascinating days. "Until then, art was merely a passionate hobby when people got excited if a Christie's or Sothebys' sold an Indian antiquity or the occasional Ravi Varma or S.H. Raza... Even in the late 1980s, people went into a tizzy when a Mother Teresa painting by M.F. Husain sold for $12,500 at Christie's first auction. This when Husain himself had fixed its reserve at $10,000."

Then things changed. "By 2008, Christie's sold a Husain for $1.4 million and a Bharti K-sculpture was going at one million pounds!"

Tuli did his bit to stir things. He curated grand exhibitions, launched a charity platform, HEART, to promote art and its education, and published a book, The Flamed Mosaic, on Indian contemporary art.
"He had held India's first independent auction in November 1997 without assistance from international auction houses where Raja Ravi Varma's The Begum's Bath sold for Rs.32 lakh. It was the most an Indian contemporary work had fetched in any auction ever," said Joshi.

By early 2000, Tuli's Osian's Connoisseurs of Art Pvt Ltd (OCA), that housed India's first indigenous auction house, an archiving, research and documentation centre, a wealth management service and a film house, acquired a film festival, an art journal, picked up sponsorship of a team in Durand Cup Football and in 2006 launched Osian's Art Fund, India's largest art fund.

But the last five years have turned Tuli's world upside down. His publishing business has shut, the film festival is in limbo, the football sponsorship is gone, the art fund has tanked and OCA is in the headlines for its financial mess. Though detractors say he tried to achieve too much too fast in a space too small, Tuli blames the economic crisis for his debacle.

"The art fund couldn't pay back investors on time because of the liquidity meltdown in the art market, a 50 percent price-fall across the world and India. This triggered many investors failing to honour their commitments made in 2008."

But these crises haven't dipped his enthusiasm. "I don't see setbacks taking away from my passion to see celebration of Indian art, cinema and literature reach a pinnacle." As if on cue, Rajesh Khanna smiles down from an Anand poster.

Top sellers
A 1957, rare six sheet poster of the epic film Mother India `90,000 - 1,35,000 (Lower Estimate - Higher Estimate)
Painting by Arpana Caur 'Pyaar hua, Iqraar hua' showcasing Raj Kapoor and Nargis from the film Shree 420 Rs 4,80,000 - 7,20,000
A large painting of Superstar Rajnikant by Armugam Rs 4,00,000 - 6,00,000
An original showcard of Ganga Jamuna signed by Dilip Kumar Rs 48,000 - 72,000
An original hand-painted hard board standee of Yahudi with Dilip Kumar & Meena Kumari Rs 6,00,00 - 9,00,000