A film poster is an identity card that introduces you to the makers of the film and the subject – the film. Posters are aimed not only as an advertisement and promotional strategy but also to familiarize the viewer with the aesthetics of the filmmaker and serve as a tiny trailer for the film. Film posters offer readings that sometimes reach beyond the film. They throw up the ‘first look’ before a film’s release. They also carry stories of ego-fights between and among actors about whose name should be at the top in the credits on the posters. Posters are visual documentation of films that could become a part of the cinema archive of a country. Indians are ignorant about the archival and aesthetic value of a part of our cultural history.

A growing boy of eleven was hung up on Amitabh Bachchan. He lived in Lucknow and it is not just the Big B’s films that he was fascinated with but everything to do with the star – his clothes, his way of walking and talking, his hairstyle. He would copy his walk, his clothes, his hairstyle as much as his age would allow. Then, one day, something happened that changed the very purpose of his life. The man’s name is SMM Ausaja. He is counted among the biggest collectors of film posters in the country. He is tall, fair, handsome and suave and completely grounded.

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“One day, Mr. Tandon of Novelty theatre, Lucknow, gifted me with a poster of Tinnu Anand’s Kaalia starring Amitabh Bachchan. It was a dream-come-true for me being a hard core fan of this great star. I had no clue what to do with it except gawking at it all the time,” says Ausaja. He had no clue then that many years later, he would be........

© Mathrubhumi English