Poster politics

Following the demise of the former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on December 5, Anna Digital Banner Centre in Royapettah received around 40 calls in less than 12 hours. These were from various people – party workers, Amma supporters, small businessmen, even residents’ welfare associations-- who wanted to get banners printed as a tribute to their beloved leader. Things were same at the many digital printing outlets on Wallers Road in Chintadripet. When speculations over the former CM’s heir were rife, enthusiastic VK Sasikala supporters got massive banners printed and displayed them across the city announcing their support for her —even announcing that she ought to take command – this was much before any political announcements were made. 

On the other hand, the supporters of Jayalalithaa’s niece, Deepa Jayakumar erected posters where Deepa’s face was morphed upon the face of the late Chief Minister. In fact, even now one can find posters of Deepa, showing her standing next to her aunt outside Deepa’s residence, 9/13, Sivagnanam Street in T Nagar. 

All this work of words and colour usually happens in crowded designing studios associated with the digital press. In the case of a small printer, it is often a one-man show. “Anyone who wants to show their support to a political leader asks for a banner because it is easily accessible. Banners have been an important part of Tamil Nadu politics and people are willing to pay thousands for it,” says S Sashi, proprietor, Digital Banners in Thousand Lights. Explaining further he says, “During election time, business is slow because of the many restrictions over erecting the banners and flex boards. We get maximum orders during the party meetings when the 15 X 30 feet banners are erected across the city. The cost of each banner is Rs 6.50 per square feet.” 

Recently, many posters have sprung up that have raised eyebrows and some have even gone viral. Remember some international leaders including Obama bowing down to local leaders? “These posters are made by some over- enthusiastic party workers. The bigger political parties have a designated art agency that does the design for them. For instance, most of the DMK’s official banners are made by Arasu Arts. These days, everybody has access to software like Photoshop and they super-impose pictures as they like. However, the seniors in the party do not pay any heed to these attempts to impress,” says an ex-MLA who doesn’t want to be named. 

Digital printers have a number of interesting anecdotes to share. J Mani, a designer working with a digital printing press says, “I get all kinds of request. Once, a DMK supporter asked me to superimpose Stalin’s face on top of a lion. Another man wanted me to create an image of his entire family standing around Jayalalithaa; this was soon after her demise and it was a family of 14. One gentleman insisted we make a banner, showing his crying face next to Amma’s.” 

However, those in the business for years, avoid such requests. M Basheer Ahmed of Mega Digital in Chintadripet has been in the business for over 20 years. “For making massive posters, the size of the photographs must be appropriate. Sometimes, people come with their own ideas for political banners and we tweak it for the design but most of the time, we go with our designs. We have a team of eight, which works on all kinds of posters (commercial and political). We have a vast file of high-resolution images and a set of text fonts we work with, for political posters,” says Basheer. 

He further adds, “The flex banners are available for the following sizes: 6X3 feet. 8 X10 feet, 8X12 feet, 15X10 feet and 15X30 feet.”

The charges of printing these banners is Rs 6.50 per square feet. “Earlier, printing these banners were expensive but now due to competition the prices have come down. Now, it’s not just political banners; people want one for any given occasion – be it a wedding or even a birthday celebration. Like mobile phones, every person wants to have a poster for himself,” he says.