V. Shantaram Motion Picture Scientific Research and Cultural Foundation. The poster is documented in its collection through Google Arts & Culture
Baburao Painter’s Kalyan Khajina from 1924 shows how he could take the drama of the stage and fit it into the space of a film poster. The people in the image are drawn with movement and feeling. Their expressions and poses give the picture a sense of urgency. This makes the viewer feel like they are part of the moment. Painter doesn’t depend on details to keep attention. Instead he focuses on how the figuresre placed their body language and the way shapes contrast with each other. These choices keep the viewer looking. His training as a painter shows in the lines and thoughtful layout.. The poster doesn’t feel stuck in old painting rules. There’s something about it. Every part of the image works together to tell a story. What stands out is how the poster balances art with simple impact. Painter knows a poster must be understood fast.. He doesn’t lower the image to just a simple ad. He keeps it meaningful. This work shows a painter stepping beyond the canvas using his skill, for a kind of visual art. It’s a moment when painting meets the power of the screen. This artwork is poster on paper, the original work is unknown.
The poster visually encapsulates high dramatic tension and theatrical urgency. Rather than relying on static figure studies or ornamental detail, Painter leverages dynamic line, strong contrasts, and expressive body language to convey movement. The visual arrangement captures an crucial moment of moral and narrative conflict—mirroring the historical saga of Maratha courage and honor central to the film—inviting the viewer into an ongoing narrative rather than a passive tableau. Beyond its immediate narrative content, the artwork symbolizes a transformative phase where academic painterly techniques were adapted for mass media. Painter’s background in portraiture and set design informs his deliberate spatial layout, balancing artistic gravity with the immediate legibility required of a street-level advertisement. It elevates early Indian cinema graphics from mere promotional billing to a meaningful graphic art form, capturing the dramatic energy of the screen while preserving narrative depth.
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By: Shivani Bajpai
This movie poster for 'Kalyan Khajina' is the oldest available Indian film poster. It is attributed to Baburao Painter, a man of many talents. Aside from being a renowned artist, he was a filmmaker and engineer. Kalyan Khajina was a semi-historical film adventure based on the life of the Maratha emperor Shivaji.
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By: Rupashi Kandpal
In the 17th century, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s forces led by Maratha commander Abaji Sondev, raided the Adilshahi territory of Kalyan and captured its suba (province) along with a massive Mughal/Adilshahi treasure (khajina) being transported toward Bijapur via Borghat.
When Abaji Sondev brought the captured treasure to Shivaji, he also presented the daughter-in-law (or relative) of the Kalyan Subedar (Ahmed Mulla) as a "gift". Shivaji strongly reprimanded Abaji Sondev for this act, stated that women of all faiths deserve the highest respect and protection (comparing her to his own mother), and arranged for her safe, honorable return to the Mughal/Adilshahi camp with full protocol.
The specific story of Abaji Sondev presenting the beautiful daughter-in-law of Mulla Ahmed (the Bijapuri Subedar of Kalyan) appears in later text accounts known as Bakhars (specifically the Chitnis Bakhar and Shivadigvijaya). Crucially, the Sabhasad Bakhar written by Krishnaji Anant Sabhasad, who was a contemporary of Shivaji Maharaj and actually worked under him- notes the capture of Kalyan but does not mention this specific incident with the Subedar’s daughter-in-law. Because it is omitted in the most authentic contemporary text, modern historians label the story a text-based legend rather than a rigidly documented reality.
