Get a piece of Bollywood!

ANURADHA VARMA, TNN, Jul 11, 2010, 12.00am IST
Care for some Bollywood kitsch? Wear it on watches, t-shirts, or pep up your living room, says Anuradha Varma


When Mangala Srinivas and Michael Wartmann married recently, they chose a hand painted Bollywood poster to celebrate the occasion, with themselves as Jodhaa Akbar. Dubai-based Mahesh K Balani chose a vintage Deewar poster as a wedding gift for his best friend. He says, “That’s his favourite movie. His jaw dropped to the floor when he saw it. It will go up in their living room once he and his wife are back from their honeymoon.”

Bollywood kitsch is no longer restricted to a few appearances on the runway, theme restaurants or weddings. It’s closer home, literally, with products designed to suit your bedroom or sport as a fashion accessory. The movement is propelled by designers, entrepreneurs and other Bollywood enthusiasts.

Mumbai-based Hinesh Jethwani, who holds a degree in computer engineering, put his outsourcing venture on the backburner and started Indian Hippy, providing hand painted customised Bollywood posters. He says, “I read a news report on billboard artists who were out of work because of posters going digital. I managed to source a few of these artists and decided to work with them to keep the art alive. Film posters may have served as advertising earlier, but today, they are considered art. We get orders from within India as well as NRIs.” Also part of their portfolio, are handpainted bags, clutch purses, wallets, etc, all handpainted with Hindi film motifs and costing Rs 5,000 upwards. Next on the list are wall murals and garages, which will soon get a kitsch facelift!

It was a similiar love for Bollywood billboards that fired designer Nida Mahmood’s imagination, as she got five former billboard artists together in her studio at Shahpur Jat in Delhi, to put together a collection of Bollywood-inspired shoes, wall-clocks, trunk tables, chests, notebooks, canvases, Gabbar jackets and blouses. “I love Don,” says Nida, who is an Amitabh Bachchan fan. She adds, “Bollywood kitsch is big. I have done two seasons of it and am tired, but there’s still a demand for it, particularly among tourists wanting to pick up souvenirs.” A tote bag from Nida’s New India Bioscope Co. comes for about Rs 4,500 while a trunk with Ab tera kya hoga Kaaliya emblazoned on it for Rs 40,000 upwards and a shrug for Rs 25,000.

Bollywood pop art is contemporary as well as vintage. For designer and painter Cimmaron Singh, a former stage actress, it’s been a six-year-old love affair with Bollywood. She combines street signs, calendar art and old cinema billboards to create watches, handbags, coasters, wall clocks, storage boxes, even silver jewellery, which can cost from Rs 800 to Rs 5,000. She recalls, “My first piece was a watch, where I used a vintage black and white Bollywood image. I wanted it to look old, something that had been handed down, rather than a shiny, new piece of metal. My watches are still bestsellers.”

Fashion designer-cum-mediaperson Nidhi Singh and ecopreneur Gaurav Gupta, meanwhile, formed Indigreen last year to put across a social message through kitsch. Last year, their theme was ‘Going green Bollywood style’ with cheesy lines and posters hand painted on t-shirts, tunics, belts and bags. For instance, a belt reads, “Piya tu ab to aaja, global warming se earth bahke, Ab to bacha ja!” Says Nidhi, “We are totally anti-prints! The poster art in all our collections is painted by former Bollywood poster painters. By paying them an artist’s fee, we are keeping this very Indian art alive and also making one of the most exclusive designs in the world. We have had some customers who buy the t-shirts to actually hang on their walls, once they are done wearing them!” While their limited edition Bollywood poster art tees cost between Rs 2,400-2,800, a dialogue tee comes for Rs 800-1200, and belts Rs 1,500-2,400. They retail in outlets like Kimaya in New Delhi and Tribal Route in Mumbai.

It’s time to wear your love of Bollywood on your sleeve, in your home or even on your car… that’s what the erstwhile Londoner and now New Delhi-based Julian Parr did three years ago when he devoted his old Ambassador’s exterior to movie memorabilia. His car, which he has fondly named Basanti, sports Amitabh Bachchan in Coolie, Mughal-e-Azam, Mother India, Rekha, and more! Julian was once stopped by the police for “commercial advertising on his vehicle”. “He recalls, “I asked them — What?! Advertising Mughal-e-Azam from the 1960s? My car sparks a lot of curiosity; many people stop to click pictures.” He isn’t going to change to any of the new movies anytime soon. He says, “Kites was dreadful, Raavan awful…”
Vintage sells, anytime!

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Life/Fashion/Trends/Get-a-piece-of-Bollywood/articleshow/6147165.cms