Decoding a film from its posters

The saying goes “Never judge a book by its cover”, but today’s design philosophy works the other way. A cover page must convince people to buy the book. The same philosophy is valid for films as well. A film’s promotional posters and ads intend to communicate exactly what they want the target audience to know without revealing much of the story. Lets decode an upcoming film “Finding Fanny” from its promotional poster.

What does the overall look and feel communicate? 

• Stamps & handwritten feel suggests that characters might be expressing themselves through old-school writing of letters. 
• The choice of costumes suggests presence of Indian-catholic culture. 
• This also suggests a Portuguese-Goan feel. 
• Overall, it gives a very ‘classic’ feel. 
• It is an urban story that is set away from urban location.

Let’s do some character decoding:

• Arjun Kapoor seems like jobless guy with a serious personality. He is definitely not a ‘bubbly’, ‘chocolaty’ hero. He maybe jobless but definitely has his own bit of dignity. He surely does not look like a ‘chhichhora’/ a jerk. 

• Deepika Padukone seems like a sweet and innocent girl, who seems a bit vulnerable. Nothing different than any average Bollywood girl role. Atleast this poster doesnot seem to portray any unique, distinct personality. 

• Dimple Kapadia seems like a strong opinionated woman who is not scared to be a bit naughty at times. Although she is a strong woman, her character is not very intense.

• Nasseruddin Shah is an old man in search of love. Day seems like a very nice man, a bit of day-dreamer.

• Pankaj Kapoor on the other hand is bit courageous. He is not afraid of taking actions that land him in awkward situations. His role seems to be bit comic. 

Overall, the film seems to revolve around expressing love. Expressing love is not restricted to youngsters only and this seems to be communicated in this film. It is not a very intense film, but ‘the same old fun & light-hearted’ film in my opinion.

*Please Note that the 'Finding Fanny' film posters are sole copyright of the makers of the movie and have only be used for explanation purpose. 

Saswat Mahapatra

Assistant Professor

www.dgmcms.org.in 

Saswat is a design alumnus from Glasgow School of Art, UK. He is a British Council Fellow and comes with a diverse professional experience in the field of television production, animation, game design and illustration/graphic design. He has worked with brands like Walt Disney India, BBC Scotland, Channel 4 London, Cartoon Network India, Cambridge University Press UK and few others. His projects have been funded by British Council, Art & Humanities Research Council UK, Science & Innovation Network UK (British High Commission) and Scottish Institute for Enterprises. He has been involved in collaboration with Falmouth University UK and IIT Bombay.

Anthropology of Fashion

There is a lot of fashion going around the world. Indian fashion is getting more and more global. Many of our traditional outfits are being given a fusion look, to westernising them for contemporary use. But for most Indians, the western outfits look like total misfits. The western outfits are as alien on the indian body as indian ethnic wear is on foreign bodies. So is there an evolution of fashion along with human evolution that supports the opinion that "a person looks most attractive in the traditional clothes of his/her root community"?? Are we, Indians, trying too hard to fit into that western wear that is probably not meant for us and trying to compete with our western counterparts? Or do we just have a terrible sense of fashion?

As much as I appreciate foreigners in Indian attire, I have always felt that Indian attire doesnt suit many non-Indians. A white blonde woman looks too pale for a rich, colourful indian saree or salwar kameez. Similarly a white man looks equally foreign to an Indian dress, be it sherwani, kurta-pajama, dhoti or lungi. The same stands true for a black person or asian or any other race. It's not just about colour combination. I strongly feel that its also about race as well. A salwar suit just seems like a loose misfit on tall, slender and (sometimes) athletic white women. They also dont look very convincing on a short haired african woman and many times too tight to fit into. No woman can look sexier in a saree than an Indian woman! Why is that?

Every community's clothing has evolved over a long period of time depending upon various factors such as body shape, colour, climate etc. Most of us are mix between the aryan and dravidian race over last few thousand years. We have coloured skin. We have smaller heads, rounder face, bigger eyes, smaller foreheads, bigger lips, less sharper nose etc compared to white race. We seem to have a tendency of putting on fat around the face and other parts of body and this becomes prominent due to our short height. All these seem to be beautifully hidden under our traditional clothes and we look so attractive in ethnic wear! 

But many of us look so ugly trying to fit into western wear. The aryan race up in extreme north India is genetically close to european race and that's why, probably, people from that part of India can fit into both- the indian and western wear. But for most of us, the western wear doesnt seem to be the solution. A large portion of Indian youth feels rejected at the thought of not looking as good as an average westerner even with the latest fashion on. 

The question is- 

Is there a solution for 'Indianising' western outfits for indian race? 

Is indian fashion only made for the north indians?

Are we demoralising the Aryan-dravidian mix race people and dravidian race people by promoting fashion that seems to suit only the Aryan featured people?

Saswat Mahapatra

Assistant Professor

www.dgmcms.org.in 

Saswat is a design alumnus from Glasgow School of Art, UK. He is a British Council Fellow and comes with a diverse professional experience in the field of television production, animation, game design and illustration/graphic design. He has worked with brands like Walt Disney India, BBC Scotland, Channel 4 London, Cartoon Network India, Cambridge University Press UK and few others. His projects have been funded by British Council, Art & Humanities Research Council UK, Science & Innovation Network UK (British High Commission) and Scottish Institute for Enterprises. He has been involved in collaboration with Falmouth University UK and IIT Bombay.