The paattu puthagam was sold at the theatre door in Madras for a few annas: a tinted card wrapper folded over cheap tan pulp leaves, carrying every lyric the talkie would sing. Thayumanavar (Modern Theatres, 1938) prints in one violet-black litho ink on rose-pink card — ornamented rule banners top and bottom, a boxed halftone collage with a circular star medallion ringed by smaller ovals, brushed deco Latin caps for the film name, fat Tamil display filling the lower third.

Nothing about it is refined. The halftone is coarse, the ink soaks, the two-colour版 runs visibly off-register, and the retailer stamped his own address across the wrapper in purple. That crowding is the design: a jobbing press using every square inch it paid for.