Rahasyamay Ladki belongs to the breed of Hindi pulp fiction which employ catchy titles—Ab Meri Baari Hai, Bhayanak Kaidi, Jadoo Ka Deepak, Kali Raton Ka Pret, Nark Ke Jallad and Pishach Ki Pyar — and even catchier images on the cover. This week, 151 such images, out of a collection of 750 with Osian’s, will tease and tickle the visitors’ imagination at the exhibition of original artworks for vintage Hindi novel covers, organised at NCPA as part of Osian’s Cinefan festival.
The exhibition — highlighting the link between the written word and art — will be inaugurated on Friday evening in keeping with the special focus for this year’s festival, relationship between writing and cinema. This link will be explored further with another exhibition featuring the engravings, based on the plays of Shakespeare, from the John Boydell gallery.
“Hindi novel covers are seen as part of and pertinent to the popular culture, calendar art, artifacts and lithographs which we decided to focus on since 2001. It is not well documented, yet representative of the common man’s aesthetic and reminiscent of a more ‘gaudy’ Ravi Varma sensibility, in a positive sense,” says Neville Tuli, chairman of Osian’s.
Spotting the artists behind Hindi pulp fiction covers is not an easy task despite their brushtroke signatures. The names range from Vishnu Pawan, Kadir, Mahender Soni, N S Dhammi, Pandit, Parvez and Manjeet.
However, there is a possibility that one artist uses different names and works on a freelance basis with more than one publishing house. “Osian’s has no familiarity with the artists, but a large number of them are from Meerut and Delhi,” says Tuli. What probably makes distinguishing difficult are the identical figures (buxom woman being a favourite), common themes, use of psychedelic colours and the shared motive to grab attention. No doubt these make the covers eye-catching as well as gory, spooky and even surreal at times.
“The art on the cover appeals to a particular stratum. There is a strong preconception this will attract the reader to a book,” says Tuli.
These images, which hold the promise of thrill, “must also be respected as another form of art”, says the head of Osian’s, which has procured these covers and will be documenting and preserving them.