Indian film posters are a dying art. Though highly sought after by connoisseurs, from all over the world a the art now sustains only a few masters from the huge industry that it used to be. Critically acclaimed for having been revolutionary in more ways than one, espesciallyin developing styles and techniques that are nowadays studied into by many art schools around the world. Original prints of poster are selling like hotcakes over the internet and are in great demand.

This art mainly flourished in the two cities which were hubs of the Indian film industry, namely Chennai(formerly Madras) and Mumbai(formerly Bombay). Large studios that churned out hundreds of handpainted posters and billboards have now been reduced to abandoned lots; with almost no one working there anymore.The film industry has shifted from the old handpainted posters to modern computer desinged posters printed on Vinyl sheets. But the aura of the hand painted posters still linger in the minds of the people who watched and lived these movies. People see the change around them thats happening, they can see it in the billboards set high on top of building, getting bigger and bigger while they are seeing lesser of the wonderfully bright and attractive handpainted posters.

Below is a collection of posters mainly from the Hindi film industry (Bollywood) and tamil film industry (Kollywood). I have also profiled some new age computer designed posters to help you draw comparisons.

A few Russian hand-painted posters. I don't see any particular influence by the Indian-style, but I am sure there must be some interesting influence between both the styles that must have risen over the trade and economic relations, that was shared by India and Russia.