Indian Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai at the Cannes film festival
© AFP/File Pascal Guyot
MUMBAI (AFP) - Balkrishna can paint orange and blue hues on and around a young, gun-toting Amitabh Bachchan -- now Bollywood's biggest superstar -- with his eyes closed.
The 74-year-old artist has produced the poster for Sholay -- one of Bollywood's most famous cult flicks about two reformed criminals who save a village from evil bandits -- thousands of times.
Before TV ads and movie previews, fans of Indian cinema guessed plots by looking at these towering billboards and their colorful action montages.
"This movie is called Sholay ("Fire") so the poster should have red. It should show drama," he said, while rapidly rosing Bachchan's cheeks.
"A hero should look like a hero, a villain like a villain. We make green faces for villains so people would know by the expression and the eyes who the characters of the film are," he said.
But that is an era now gone. As India's culture has rapidly embraced Western tastes, so has its film industry.
Today's posters mimic Hollywood's: The emphasis is on photos, and sexy heroes and sultry heroines dominate -- not attempts to explain the plot.
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