The Hot Spot’s Hand-Painted Pakistani Movie Posters Exhibition
at The Commonwealth Institute, London.
This Poster exhibition was a dream come true, but making it happen was quite the opposite. Transporting dozens of heavy canvas posters from Royal Park to The Commonwealth Institute was easy in words, but the hassle and red tape made it a stressful experience.
Then, an unimaginable twist of fate struck just as we had mounted all the posters, labelled everything neatly, displayed the movie postcards, and nailed the last nail into place. A bombshell hit, literally.
My elder brother joined us at Kensington’s beautiful Commonwealth Institute with the news that “Something had happened”. There was disbelief and numbness as we huddled back and headed home.
Suddenly, the comical images of Sultan Rahi flying through the air with a gandaasa impaling a nasty hood with a knife thrust into an enemy’s gut and blood splattering all over didn’t seem quite as funny as it did minutes ago.
Suddenly, our Exhibition changed from something loud, ludicrous and wonderful, to something prophetic and terrifying. The context had changed.
The world had changed. There was considerable speculation about the Exhibition proceeding in light of recent events in New York City. Ultimately, the administration decided to proceed with the Exhibition, but to include a disclaimer upon entrance that would place the violence-laden imagery in its proper context.
The Exhibition’s social and political subtext took on disturbing meaning in light of 9/11, more frightening than funny.
Reading some of the comments left by people who had visited the Exhibition reflected the pubic mood in London in the wake of 9/11.
The images spoke for themselves. The world had indeed changed.
The Poster Exhibition drew to a conclusion, and it was heartening for us to have been able to project Pakistani cinema, even if the entire exercise was given a chilling twist after 9/11.
I returned to share photographs of the Paintings done by Mohammad Ghous Artists team, with the former very much in charge. It was stunning to be told he had suffered a fatal heart attack and this Exhibition will always be remembered in his honour.
