Art News

Delhi exhibition explores India’s sexy "morning shows"

NEW DELHI (REUTERS).- A decade ago, there was hardly a street corner in Indian cities that wasn’t plastered with sleazy posters of adult movies. Over the years, the posters and the risqué “morning show” films they advertised have mostly disappeared from Indian cinemas. But this month in New Delhi, a unique exhibition is trying to give these posters a new lease of life. “When I talk to some young people…(they) do not know this whole morning show culture,” says V. Sunil, exhibition curator and owner of the poster collection. Sunil says the attempt is not just to shock people but also help them reconnect with the forgotten past of Indian cinema. Before the advent of the Internet and multiplex chains, cinemas across the country screened adult films in the morning before switching to mainstream fare later in the day. The posters, often featuring scantily clad women in the throes of passion, appealed to cinema-goers hungry for a