You’re looking at an excessively scruffy but very happy me holding up one of five hand-painted (on canvas) posters for Hell’s Ground (a.k.a. Zibahkhana). Director Omar Khan sent it my way from Islamabad as a thanks for the CineMacabre screening of the movie (which drew a huge crowd) and the feature we did in the mag (issue # 79). It’s definitely the greatest thing I’ve scored from the mailman, and I can’t wait to frame it.

I wanted to know more about the poster, so I asked Omar a few questions. He told me the following about who makes these posters and if it’s regular thing in Pakistan.

This kind of hand painted artwork has all but died out in Pakistan and India and I am doing my utmost to keep it from going extinct altogether. Only five were painted up so far by one of the poverty stricken artists from Karachi who have NO work at all and no income to feed their families. I have taken it upon myself to try to support these guys and this wonderful local art form that has been neglected as low brow and unworthy of any attention and has thus died out. A tragedy, in my opinion.

I also inquired as to how the film was being received in Pakistan.

I am in Delhi at the moment where the Zibahkhana was screened to rapturous, delirious and a totally crazy response, just as it was meant to be. It was a total sellout and has created much more of a buzz than many of the pseudo intellectual clap-trap oriented films that so dominate the International Festival circuit.

Finally, I told him to keep in touch and drop us a line about his next film. Here’s the low down.

I gingerly announced the next project which is titled Jhabarjhilla and is basically set in a sadistic hell hole all women’s lesbo-prison where our hapless inmates from different backgrounds come together to escape, but what they escape to is another realm of horror altogether! I can promise you raving fanatics and a mythical hairy monster, as well as the wonders of an all female prison! I expect to be exiled shortly… or worse!

Wow, sounds awesome! Hell’s Ground is loads of fun, so I can’t wait to see what subversive mayhem Omar comes up with next.

Thanks for the poster, Omar, and thank you to the artist for for the fantastic work. I hope the tradition lives on, because it’s the coolest thing since sliced naan.