There was a time when, while crossing a cinema house in interior city any day one would always catch a glimpse of huge vivacious hoardings erected outside the cinema buildings.
Films then, were one of the few available sources of entertainment to people and film billboards one of the cheap means of marketing available.
Film billboards were therefore painted in highly fantasized and idealized fashion; delicately depicting the folds of the costumes and exaggerated contours of the body creating surreal images in bold and vibrant colors glaring down at the passer-by- inviting them to cinema houses.
Those were the golden days of Pakistan's film industry when it produced dozens of films each year that screened at jam-packed cinema halls to audience who were actually interested in watching Urdu films.
Cinema has contributed in more than one way to develop a signature style in the art of the subcontinent.
The art of painting film billboard emerged in 90s when the two phenomena's of the visual arts and cinema combined together to bring out a new form of art-film billboard art.
Painted by the unsung masters or ustaads this remarkably unique form of disposable pop art always remained the least known and appreciated of the artworks from the subcontinent.
In spite of the sheer hard work of these painters this work earned them money nor recognition, and their talent remained hidden in the backyards of cinema houses for decades.
Owing to the eventual decline in film production, advancement in cable technology, internet downloading and digital printing coupled with increased standard of living-the art of cinema painting suffered gradual degeneration and the artist from total disappearance.
The people who once produced remarkable pieces of billboard art are now earning livelihood in other professions and the art form (that always remained hidden behind cinema yards) which is strictly a native to sub-continent has lost its splendour and going towards complete extinction.
Artist who once painted brilliant images on tin boards with enamel paints have now switched over to other professions and this form of pop art form has lost its charm due to entertainment boom from Bollywood where Pakistani Cinema has lost its viewers to Indian films.
A cinema billboard painting is not only an art form, it also depicts the aesthetic sensibility of the artists who in spite of no formal academic training are able to produce artistically correct and aesthetically appealing pictures for a meagre income.