Revisiting the heyday of Pakistani films and by including a sampling of Guddu’s iconic film poster collection, “Lights, Art and Action” celebrated cinematic history through innovative use of contemporary mixed and multimedia arts. Fresh, lively and creative in form and concept this group show at the VM Gallery can be perceived as a trailer of the potential inherent in the dialogue between film and art to spark new conversations. The artists’ novel use of varied media such as drawing, painting and sculpture as well as digital prints, videos and installations is a vibrant indicator of the possibilities that can be explored through cinema-inspired art.

In the heady ’70s the Pakistan film industry was in its prime. Producing more than a 100 films annually, it delighted audiences with soft romantic comedies, tearjerker melodramas and flashy action thrillers. Cinema going was a treat and terms like ‘house full’, ‘super hit’ and ‘matinee idols’ were common lingo. It was a time when some 700 cinemas were operating and film hoardings and posters, created by unlettered craftsmen called ‘master painters’, was a thriving art form. Creating loud, kitschy art, these painters were absolutely fearless in their interpretations of plots and events. The entire imagery, be it beauty, glamour, dance or fight action scenes, was exaggerated and extreme. In the art milieu now these posters have a life of their own. Considered an early version of desi pop-art they are an exciting slice of mainstream film culture history that is unabashedly Pakistani in appearance, thought and content.

Today, courtesy of avid collector Guddu’s archive of posters and photographs displayed at the VM Gallery, we can get a feel of this populist wave. Translating the bold, raw content and extreme chromatic charge of these posters and nostalgia-inducing monochrome film stills, a large number of artists have produced a medley of artworks that bring cinema into conversation with contemporary art. Other than Guddu’s archive, a gallery wall devoted to a live poster painting demo by Bhola Ustad and shagirds was the other yesteryear reality with footprints in the present.

Show such as “Lights, Art and ... Action! ” can initiate a dialogue between film and art to spark new conversations

Among new media arts, a machine installation by Rehma Iqbal playing with image blow-ups on screen was intriguing. Reflection was also central in Rameez Rehman’s “Silver Screen” but with the inventive use of small pixelated mirrors in a concave bowl that projected multiple images. Regional films, especially the Punjabi varieties, were incomplete without a gandasa (battle axe of sorts) — wielding or Kalashnikov — toting hero. A group installation of roof hangings featuring an assortment of weaponry common to such films, over-painted with steamy garish visuals in the truck art mannerism echoed the kitschy tenor of ethnic movies. A considerable number of paintings were built around portraits of matinee idols such as Zeba, Rani, Firdous, Waheed Murad, Mohammed Ali, Nadeem, Sultan Rahi and Rangeela in varied formats, of which only some were imaginative. The only miniature painting based on film poster content was by Kashif Khan. This merger of two contradictory disciplines, one refined and delicate, the other coarse and brash, is worth exploring for the new directions it can open for miniature art.

Music and lyrics were an essential component of old films and many an evergreen melody testifies to the quixotic spirit of the times. Portraits of music legends such as Noor Jehan and Nusrat Fateh Ali in the show are celebratory at best but it is remixes and reinventions of old hits that speak of contemporary interventions. Danish Ahmed’s inferences to the Coke Studio cultural experience in his work point in this direction but he seems more preoccupied with the influence of endorsements and brands as the wheelers and dealers of the new culture.

In this exercise of recall and relook through a contemporary lens it is important to sense the spirit of the times. A considerable amount of nostalgia for the good old days relates to the simplicity, innocence and idealism that we associate with that era. As per contemporary art mantra this exhibition concentrated on innovation and experiment, with minimal or no focus on the element of romance and optimism that the golden-age cinema evokes. The magic lies in the mood that the music and cinema of that age induce.

The show “Lights, Art and ... Action” was held at the VM Gallery, Karachi from November 23, to December 10, 2016

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, December 25th, 2016