The Nandas transfer technicolour dreams onto paper -- making film posters which pack a powerful punch by determining the public perception of the film. "For instance, Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya sounds like a violent love story but it is not. So I used a kiddy, informal font on the posters to communicate the fun aspect of the film," says Rahul, who at 33 is five years younger than Himanshu.

But this visual wizardry is not the only reason for their rapid rise. Their state-of-the-art equipment and the use of imported paper at a time when it wasunheard of, also went a long way. Even though their posters cost Rs 10 per piece, Rs four more than the traditional ones, the benefits far outweighed the cost as it was found that posters affect initial collections. So far they have done 50 films which include blockbusters like Rangeela, Raja Hindustani, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, Dil To Pagal Hai, Gupt, Pardes, Ishq and the forthcoming Duplicate. And though they can be called poster-makerwallahs, there is no failed-artist-making-a-living tale behind their success story.

Till four years back, the brothers were publishers of Hindi books but lost their market to the TV boom. "We were into printing and travelled abroad often, so we knew about the possibilities of computer graphics. Then a friend mentioned film design and we got into it. It caught on in the very first week, there was such a big gap," says Rahul.

But their role goes beyond that of mere artists -- they are in the thick of strategic film publicity, a trend which started someyears ago. For instance, they are savvy enough to make different kinds of posters for different parts of the country. "In Punjab, they prefer more blood and gore whereas in Mumbai they like to see youth and freshness," says Rahul.

And the process of creating a film poster is similar to that of shooting an ad campaign. Instead of just copying pictures from the film, they work on a brief given by the film-maker, if one is given, and they always watch the film before starting work on it. Then separate shooting schedules are organised with the stars and the brothers also decide what look should be portrayed. Even the clothes the actors wear for a poster are decided by them. They always use only one of their two trusted photographers -- Atul Kasbekar and Gautam Rajadhyaksha.

"The end result also depends a lot on the stars. People like Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh and Anil Kapoor really involve themselves and give me a whole day for the shoot. This is why these guys are where they are -- they take so much interest inevery aspect of the film. And some others, I won't take names, start making faces when the shoot starts and just waste rolls and time," grimaces Rahul. In their work, they also double up as copy writers -- the catch line on the poster is often their's. Among many others Pardes's `American Dreams...Indian Soul' was Rahul's brainwave.

Though the Nandas are popular with the film industry, their office is surprisingly spartan and they insist it will remain that way. Instead of becoming talking heads, the brothers prefer to do all the work themselves. "Though technology is very tempting -- you want to do more and more things, I think we are going to remain in this business and keep it small," says Rahul. The constraints on size often has them turning away work but never good work. Says Rahul, "Creativity is a vibration. I don't take on work if I don't get good vibes from a person."

With a burgeoning market like Bollywood, there is place for many poster designers and though sometimes the competition getsbetter, most times, the Nanda brothers steal the show. There is a huge trophy in their office, given by Subhash Ghai for their contribution to Pardes's success. More recently, the work they did for the Hindi version of Jeans was liked so much by Shankar, the director, that he adopted it for the Tamil version too. Rahul has a simple explanation for their success, "Everyone has the machines but it is the mind that matters."