Back in his school days, filmmaker Rajiv Menon would pass through Chennai very often — his father was a naval officer and the family lived in Visakhapatnam at the time. He fondly recalls, “We used to transfer through Chennai to go to Vizag. After arriving in Chennai in the morning, we would stay in the railway station till night, until the next train. In between, we would have rides around the city.” Amid these rides, he would notice abandoned sites opposite the then Anand Theatre (in Mount Road) housing large hoardings of upcoming films.
He also remembers massive cutouts, announcing the arrival of multi-starrers, opposite TVS in Mount Road.
“After having lunch and some ice cream, we would ride around the city.” These are Menon’s earliest brushes with Kollywood’s important, albeit, fading culture of cutouts, banners and posters that go hand in hand with the evolution of Tamil cinema.
His fascination for this culture manifests in many of his films: in the song ‘Ooh La La La’ from Minsara Kanavu , Prabhu Deva is seen dancing against a poster featuring Amitabh Bachan. Similarly, in Kandukondein Kandukondein , he uses a graphic of poster art in parts of ‘Konjum Mainakkale’. “My ode to the poster culture can be seen in those visuals,” he laughs.
Madras’ moniker as the cinema capital of South owes a lot to this dying culture. From being markers of locations to a tangible proof of artistic skill, movie banners, cutouts and posters trace the city’s history through the lens of cinema.
This will be explored during Chennai Photo Biennale’s upcoming panel discussion titled Banners, Cutouts and Posters — Tamil Cinema’s Tryst with Visual Art. Moderated by film professor Uma Vangal, the panel which is part of CPB’s Madras Day celebrations will feature artist V Jeevananthan, film historian Theodore Baskaran, author Preminda Jacob and filmmaker Rajiv Menon.
A dying art
“It’s a double celebration — of some of the memories of Madras and the very unique Tamil cinema tradition,” says Uma adding, “We wanted to celebrate a particular aspect of Madras that many of us associate with.”
There have been times when tourists would drive down Mount Road — from Safire Theatre Complex to Wallajah Road, just look at the hoardings and cutouts on either sides, she says. “Literally, people would walk and gawk. Every week, they would throng to see what films are going to be released. It is very much a part of the skyline and landscape of Madras.” The larger-than-life aspect of cinema that is so often associated with Tamil cinema experience,reflects on this culture.
If cutouts and cloth banners dominated the Southern regions, North Madras sported huge wall paintings of releases and announcements. North Madras also housed many popular theatres, including Bhubaneswari, Mahalaxmi, Saraswati.
“The kind of spectatorship of Tamil audiences, is still very much rooted within that larger-than-life art, intertwined with cinema. And in a way, that led to the intense engagement that we have with our screens,” says Uma.
A cutout of Sylvester Stallone
Be it the idea of cleaning up the skyline or the advent of the digital age and the irregular income, the artform has taken a severe blow. Artist V Jeevananthan can vouch for this. He took to the profession after closely following his father N Velayuthan, proprietor of Cine Arts in Coimbatore, who specialised in banner art.
His perspective (in the panel) will cover the entirety of Tamil Nadu. “In the ‘40s, banner art used to be a prominent artform and profession. It probably started from the age of theatre plays and took to cinema. Madras, I think, was the pioneer of this form. People would train in this specifically to take it up as a profession,” says the artist. Giving a glimpse into the process, he continues, “Banner painting is technically oil painting, except done in huge canvases. Pigments are purchased directly which would be mixed with linseed oil to create our own colours.” However, since 2005, he says that banner art has been near-extinct.
The panel discussion will be held on August 29, Saturday from 5 pm to 7 pm. Register athttps://bit.ly/32rq6lJ or visit @cpblearninglab on Instagram
Published - August 26, 2020 04:20 pm IST
