These four weathered paper slips
are quintessential relics of Indian pop culture from the late 1990s. Issued by
the Northern Scales Co. in New Delhi, these tickets were dispensed by
mechanical weighing machines commonly found at bustling railway stations and
public squares. For a small coin, a commuter would receive not just their
weight, but a collectible souvenir featuring a "red-ink" portrait of
a reigning cinema icon.
The cards showcase a diverse
lineup of Bollywood royalty, including Akshaye Khanna, Shilpa Shetty, Saif Ali
Khan, and Amitabh Bachchan. Interestingly, the tickets contain charming
typographic errors typical of mass-produced street ephemera, such as "Akshay"
for Akshaye and "Bachan" for Bachchan. The images use a distinct
halftone dot-matrix style, a low-cost printing technique that has since become
a visual hallmark of vintage Indian street kitsch.
Beyond being simple receipts, these cards served as a primitive form of interactive entertainment. While the front displayed a star, the reverse side typically featured the user’s weight and a short "fortune" or personality reading.
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