Team FC
AN ACTION HERO
These stylish posters created by Raj Khatri at the popular design studio Marching Ants offer up a gritty and fun take on the phata-poster-nikla-hero trope.
ALL THAT BREATHES & WHILE WE WATCHED
Indian documentaries have been having a dream run on the global stage, and two of this year’s most celebrated non-fiction feature films also have two of the most striking posters of the year.
PENNUM PORATTUM & VAAZHAI
For these two films, we have only the posters — both are still being shot and no plot details on either have been revealed — and they do exactly what good posters are meant to do: They draw us in.
POKHAR KE DUNU PAAR & POWAI
Designer Ashwin Jacob (who runs the Kochi-based Studio Lore) is the man behind these wonderfully illustrated poster designs for Parth Saurabh’s Pokhar Ke Dunu Paar and Kuldip Patel’s Powai, both of which are currently doing their festival runs and awaiting distribution.
NATCHATHIRAM NAGARGIRADHU
Designer Sivam Kabilan makes another entry in this list with his arresting poster for Pa Ranjith’s Natchathiram Nagargiradhu. Notice his trademark blend of photographs and illustrations.
THE GOLDEN THREAD
Nishtha Jain’s film — which premiered at the International Documentary Film Festival, Amsterdam (IDFA) this year — documents the last vestiges of the jute industry in West Bengal and the workers who run it. The poster by designer Anirban Ghosh captures that entire process and the painstakingly hard labour that goes into it succinctly in one beautifully illustrated design.
SHOEBOX
This is hands down my favourite Indian poster of the year and one of the best from across the world. The poster for Faraz Ali’s deeply personal, evocative and lovingly crafted film Shoebox is simply stunning.