Dara Pictures

Background

Dara Pictures (formerly Dara Productions) was a Punjabi-language film company from India, which also produced Hindi-language films.

(1973-1982)

Nicknames: "The Torch Man", "The Dark Torch Man", "The Indian Torch Man"

Logo: In the darkness, a man appears running with a lightened-up torch. The man stops and poses with him looking at his raised torch seen at the left. A yellow blob appears from the torch and moves to the left, and forms the word "DARA". Another yellow blob appears and forms "PRODUCTIONS"; both words are seen in form of an arc. The last yellow blob appears and moves down to form "PRESENTS".

Variants:

On Kisan Aur Bhagwan, the footage of the man running is sped-up.
On Rustom, "PRODUCTIONS" is replaced by "PICTURES" and text is "DARA PICTURES" in a arc, and "PRESENTS" is no longer italic and seen with another font.

FX/SFX: The running torch man (which is obviously live-action), the 2D words being formed.

Music/Sounds:

A celesta theme was used on Kisan Aur Bhagwan and Bhagat Dhana Jatt.
A different version of the celesta theme was used on Sawa Lakh Se Ek Ladaun and Dhyanu Bhagat.
A dramatic synth fanfare was used on Rustom.

Availability: Extremely rare. Not counting the films mentioned on the Music/Sounds section, this logo was also seen in Bhakti Mein Shakti and Mera Desh Mera Dharam.

Legacy: The whole dark nature of the logo along with the celesta jingles is pretty unnerving. The synth fanfare used on Rustom is a bit tamer, but still surprising if you were used with the familiar music of this logo.