MUMBAI: A collection of rare, hand-painted Bollywood movie posters and other memorabilia will be sold online at the Bollywood Art Store (www.cafepress.com/bollywoodart).

The online store’s tribute to Bollywood is an indication of the growing influence of the nearly 100 year-old film industry, which is the largest in the world in terms of the number of films made every year.

“The old posters are more beautiful. You can see the lines and texture. The new ones are just copies of the films made by someone sitting at a computer,” says Bollywood Art Store owner Sunil Shibad.

The store draws inspiration from Hollywood, where film memorabilia and are regarded not only as an art form and a collector’s delight but also has immense commercial value for film lovers.

Despite the huge popularity of Indian films both in India and in the South Asian diaspora the world over, Bollywood memorabilia was until now collected only by a few.

Shibad adds, “Bollywood Art Store would also be the first attempt to save a unique art form, which till recently was discarded like waste paper in India.”