Osian back with second mega auction of movie art

New Delhi, July 11 (IANS) The history of Indian cinema will cross an artistic threshold to become classical collectors' memoribilia in an

auction, "Film Memoribilia: The Osian's Cinefan Auction" July 31

which will see vintages like Shammi Kapoor's scarf from the movie

"Junglee", his cardigan from "Andaz", the "shehnai" from his last

movie "Rockstar" and one of his Mont Blanc pens go under the hammer in the capital.

The auction will flag off at the Imperial Hotel in the capital at 8

p.m. The collectibles will be on display in a special preview at the inauguration of the Osian's-Cinefan Festival of Indian and Arab Cinema at the Siri Fort auditorium.

The auction will be the first major sale of Indian film memorabilia in the country since a decade when Osian pioneered a market building process for film memorabilia with "The Historical Mela - ABC Art, Book, Cinema".

The focus of the auction is on Shammi Kapoor - one of the biggest names in Indian commercial Hindi cinema who shone on the screen for more than six decades since late 1940s. An array of memorabilia, mostly clothes and accessories used by him in his movies, will be up for bids.

"The last unreleased song by Kishore Kumar completed three days before his demise will provide his fans with an opportunity to buy the rights of the song," Osian founder chairman Neville Tuli said at a media briefing here Wednesday.

The other highlights of the auction are a rare album of 45

signed black and white photographic stills of Dev Anand, rare costumes worn by Sanjeev Kumar and Amjad Khan in "Shatranj ke Khiladi" from the Suresh Jindal collection, rare Satyajit Ray film posters designed in the 1960s and the cricket bat signed by Aamir Khan and his team from the movie "Lagaan".

"The turquoise ring worn by Farooque Sheikh in Muzaffar Ali's 'Umraao Jaan', rare photographic stills mounted on lobby cards and show cards from movies like 'Aan', 'Mother India', "Dil Diya Dard Liya', 'Leader', 'Humraaz', 'Zanjeer', 'Aan Milo Sajna' and other rare memorabilia which collectors have never seen before will be on sale," Tuli said.

Calendar art featuring stars like Jayalalitha, Waheeda Rehman, Hema

Malani, Mumtaz and Sridevi will feature in the portaits section.

"First of all, the Hindi film industry in Mumbai should not be

referred to as Bollywood. It is derogatory. It is sad that in a

country which is so passionate about cinema and where film stars are larger than life, the market for vintage cinema publicity material is at such infancy compared to the market for Bollywood memorabilia," Tuli said.

He said "the collectors' attitude towards film memorabilia reflected

the lack of cinematic culture".

"The Indian film fraternity must respect its history and the work of its peers," Tuli said.