Shah Rukh Khan buys 2 'Mughal-e-Azam' posters for Rs 6.84 lakh at an auction; a painting of 'Shree 420' gets the highest bid of Rs 7.5 lakh

Mumbai: Superstar Shah Rukh Khan led bidders at the Osian's auction of rare and vintage film memorabilia here as he bought two majestic original posters of

'Mughal-e-Azam' for Rs 6.84 lakh.

Last night's sale, part of the auction house's 'Greatest Indian Show on Earth' series, saw 163 of the 220 lots being sold for Rs 55.60 lakh.

A painting by Arpana Caur 'Pyaar hua, Iqraar hua' showcasing the famous under the umbrella scene of Raj Kapoor and Nargis from 'Shree 420' fetched the highest price of Rs 7.5 lakh followed by an original hand-painted hard board standee of 'Yahudi' with Dilip Kumar and Meena Kumari in their famous embrace which went for Rs 4.8 lakh.

The auction's most popular section focusing on the trio Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand and leading heroines Madhubala, Nargis and Meena Kumari, generated the greatest interest and frenzied bidding, the organisers said.

The 'Gunga Jumna' artwork, signed and inscribed by Dilip Kumar in 1962, was purchased by the M Morarka Foundation, led by Kamal Morarka for Rs 2.16 lakh. A six-sheeter poster of 'Mother India', which requires preservation work by the new collector, also witnessed hectic bidding, finally selling for Rs 2.52 lakh.

The Rajesh Khanna lots of 'Anand' & 'Bawarchi' also witnessed competition while the poster of 'Junglee', one of the earliest designs by Studio Diwakar, sold for Rs 72000. Most other lots received reasonable interest especially some from the N N Sippy family collection, such as the hand annotated scripts of 'Ghar' and 'Meri Jung' (Rs 48,000). The calendar art angle of Indian cinema also received its fair share of interest with Priya Paul of the Apeejay Group buying it.

"It is very good to see the film fraternity finally taking a much larger interest and responsibility in helping to preserve this fragile heritage," said Neville Tuli, chairman of Osian's Group.

The first few lots of rare artworks and photographic stills belonging to some of the earliest films made by Prabhat Film Company and Prakash Studios captured the imagination of three major collectors.

Photographic stills of films like 'Amrit Manthan' (1934), 'Amar Jyoti' (1936), 'Aadmi' (1939), 'Padosi' (1941), 'Rajput Ramni' (1936), 'Baiju Bawra' (1952) were some of the other attractions among bidders.