A chance to preview the Kamat Foto Flash archive charting the history of stills production from its heyday in the 70s and 80s to their transformation into digital photography. Drawing on photo stills from Bollywood film publicity to illuminate aspects of the appeal and popularity of the commercial Hindi film industry, Bollywood Stills is a partnership project with Kranti Media, Kamat Foto Flash, Shisha, Punch and The University of Manchester.

Whilst there are many exciting elements to the Bollywood film industry that have been recently highlighted in the international media, the publicity and marketing factor known in the Indian film industry as ‘Action Stills’ has been overlooked. Historically, these are photograph stills that have been used by the large billboard painters to select particular scenes with stars that will grace the huge hand-painted billboards in India and also for posters, press and magazine advertising.

Drawing on the large Action Stills archives from Kamat Foto Flash studios who are pioneers of the scene in Mumbai, India; this exhibition will pay homage to this neglected area of Indian film publicity while also offering an insight into the many and varied images that this form of media production has given rise to.

The exhibition uses unique images from the Kamat Foto Flash archive to visually illustrate some of the key themes and issues that have made popular Hindi cinema a cultural phenomenon around the world:

• ‘Love and Romance’
• ‘Stars: Women in Bollywood’
• ‘Song and Dance’
• ‘Villains and Vamps’
• ‘Stars: Heroes’
• ‘Escapism’
• ‘Planet Bollywood: Cinema for All’

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