Air India Hong Kong Poster, 1960s

I’d seen this Air India Hong Kong poster form the 1960s before but a few details explaining this one…

The Air-India Maharajah mascot was created in 1946 by Bobby Kooka and Umesh Rao – Kooka was Commercial Director with Air India and Rao, an artist at J Walter Thompson in Bombay. Kooka once said: ‘“We can call him the Maharajah for want of a better description. But his blood isn’t blue. He may look like royalty, but he isn’t royal. He is capable of entertaining the Queen of England and splitting a beer with her butler. He is a man of many parts: lover boy, sumo wrestler, pavement artist, vendor of naughty post cards, Capuchin monk, Arab merchant…”

The posters were printed in India by Prasad Process Private of Madras on Japanese paper.