After their inaugural auction featuring paintings by leading modern artists F N Souza, M F Husain and V S Gaitonde, among others, online auction house deRivaz & Ives has returned with a focus on cinema. The first auction, scheduled for April 8 and 9, will see over 100 first-release original posters of films like Mother India (1957), Mughal-E-Azam (1960) and Yaarana (1981).

Neville Tuli, founder of Osian’s, chief mentor at deRivas & Ives, says that many of the original posters, like that of Tarana (1951) by S M Pandit—a painter from Karnataka who designed film publicity material for Raj Kapoor and others—are still not available on the Internet. “We still have minimal interest in preserving cinematic heritage. Posters, especially the hand-painted ones, represent a fragility. It is a dead art, which has come back to India in a way; we are one of the last few countries to keep it alive.”

The auction will specifically highlight designers and artists who are not well-known for their work as poster artists, including legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray. Works of poster designers like D R Bhosale (Main Nashe Mein Hoon, 1959), Pamart Studios (Haqeeqat, 1964 and Khamoshi, 1969), Diwakar Karkare (Sholay, 1975 and Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro, 1973) and C Mohan (Khatta Meetha, 1978)  will be up for the sale. “We will see one of the most elusive original release versions of the Awara poster; the imagery seen until now has been of re-release posters,” shares Tuli, adding that there will also be a focus on the first family of Indian cinema, the Kapoors. “Their cinematic journey will be highlighted through their poster art. Three unique versions of Shashi Kapoor’s Juari [1968] will be seen for the first time.”

The aim, he shares, is to establish new world record prices for Indian film memorabilia and get the film fraternity more involved in cinema-related art. While actors like Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Anupam Kher and Dia Mirza bid and won art pieces during the Osian’s 2002 auction, the hope is now to widen this group by reaching out to the younger generation of talent. Tuli says, “Once the film fraternity comes on board, the rest of the public will follow.”

WHEN: April 8-9

WHERE: derivaz-ives.com

To celebrate the upcoming festival of lights, the team of Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) has lined up special episodes with the Diwali theme. The final episode of the week sees actors Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif and director Rohit Shetty on the hot seat opposite Amitabh Bachchan. Besides putting their general knowledge to the test, the Sooryavanshi trio will pay tribute to the megastar host in their unique way.

KBC director Arun Sheshkumar says that Kumar sprang a surprise during the taping of the episode by dancing to Bachchan’s song, Sara Zamana from Yaarana (1981). “Akshay went backstage, and came back wearing a jacket with lights on it. Amit ji noted that Akshay was wearing a battery-operated jacket. He recalled that during the shoot, he had to wear a 220-watt jacket with a live wire in it. He joked that while people felt he was dancing, he was getting shocks in reality,” laughs Sheshkumar.

Kaif, who had done a special number in the 2012 Agneepath remake, was in her element as she mouthed Bachchan’s dialogues from the original action drama. The show took an emotional turn when Bachchan and Shetty exchanged anecdotes about the filmmaker’s action director-father, the late M B Shetty. “Rohit charted his own journey from being an AD on the sets of Suhaag [1994] to becoming a director. He noted that his father had worked with Amit ji on several films.”