Shaheed (Martyr), 1965
Set of 6 Showcards, c. 1965, 38 X 75 cm (15 X 29.5 inches)
tinted gelatin silver print and poster paint on board with screen-printed lettering.
Manoj Kumar had a formidable career in Hindi cinema. His work spanned over 60 years and won him multiple awards for Best Actor, Best Director, and a Filmfare Lifetime Achivement Award.
Shaheed was the starting point for Manoj Kumar's on-screen image as a patriotic hero.
"This remake of the original 1948 film recounts the life of Bhagat Singh, a famous nationalist fighter who was hanged by the British in 1931. Cat. no. 23 and Cat. no. 25 feature the face of actor Manoj Kumar as the hero Bhagat Singh with his distinctive hat and black mustache, a look iconized in popular prints throughout the twentieth century. At the same time, the bright pop colours and strong graphic design reflect contemporary visual trends. Cat. no. 25 depicts the imprisoned men walking in a line, reminiscent of the cover of the Beatles’ Abbey Road album, which it predates by a few years. Handprints on the wall look like abstract expressionist brushstrokes, underscoring the internationalism of the 1960s.
The film Shaheed (1965) was produced by K. P. K. Movies and directed by S. Ram Sharma. Music by Prem Dhawan. Black and white, Hindi, starring Manoj Kumar, Nirupa Roy, Anand Kumar and Kamini Kaushal."
--Text by Dr. Deepali Dewan and Alexandra McCarter, based on Deepali Dewan, ed. Bollywood Cinema Showcards: Indian Film Art from the 1950s to the 1980s. Showcards from The Hartwick Collection. Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum Press, 2011. Copyright of and reproduced here with the generous permission of the Royal Ontario Museum.
Literature
Deepali Dewan, ed. Bollywood Cinema Showcards: Indian Film Art from the 1950s to the 1980s. Showcards from The Hartwick Collection. Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum Press, 2011, p. 79, Cat. no. 25.