In the heart of Mumbai lives Sheikh Rehman, the city‘s last painter of film posters. His stu­dio is run in the old masters‘ style - behind the screen of an old Hindi film cinema. Showing titles exclusively in 35mm, this old-fashioned movie house is a crumbling, dying breed; all signs point to its inevitable demise.

Here, Rehman is both artist and guru, comedian and philosopher. But modernity is taking over and the audiences that have come in for generations for refuge and entertainment are dwindling. With the theatre facing potential demolition, marketing has turned to more plastic movie posters to lure in more people, replacing the need for Rehman’s original work. It’s a hopeless struggle but Rehman won’t give up ...

ORIGINAL COPY is a delightful ode to life and the cinema. As Rehman says, movies are like life: “The reel keeps rolling, and the movie goes on.”

Even if a screening is sold out, tickets are often available 30 minutes before the start of the film at the box office