Peshawar, which lay on the crossroads of cultures and ancient caravan routes, has a rich tradition of storytelling. Before the advent of radios and television, the art of storytelling flourished in traditional tea houses and balakhanas in the bazaar.

The storyteller relied on his tongue and his imagination to earn his livelihood. The tales were partly narrated, partly sung to entertain an audience of traders and travel1ers arriving in their caravans from distant corners of the world.

You might struggle to find storytellers today, but the history of storytellers in Peshawar is perhaps as old as the history of the city.

The earliest theatre in Peshawar was established during the British Raj.

The Gunner`s Theatre was constructed on Artillery Road in 1854 to provide amusement opportunities to soldiers and their families. Many travelling theatre groups performed plays, musicals and pantomimes casting local amateur thespians.

With the advent of cinema in the 20th century, silent movies made a debut in Peshawar. Several cinemas sprang up in Peshawar. Their owners included renowned local entrepreneurs of the time such as Ishar Das Sahni and Sardar Sant Singh Seble, who ran cinemas in different other cities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Peshawar produced eine legends like Prithvi Kapoor, Raj Kapoor, A.K. Hangal, and Dilip Kumar among others. In fact, according to writer Ibrahim Zia, more than 70 actors and actresses who made big it in Bollywood hailed from Peshawar.

In Pakistan, the standard of films produced during the 60s and 70s was generally compatible with that era and the quality was more or less satisfactory. However, thestandard deteriorated from the 80s onwards, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, both in terms of content and technique.

Pashto films that had made a debut with refined themes around folk characters and historic cultural icons were reduced to those glorifying gangsters, gore, vulgarity and blood baths. In a bizarre manner, Pashto cinema was taken over by lobbies based in Punjab over time, who not only grabbed local jobs as producers and artists but also distorted the cultural refinement of films ruthlessly.

A further decline in cinema industry ensued in the aftermath of the socio-political upheavals that began after the Afghan War. These contradictions peaked during the political clampdown on cultural activities between 2001-2007.

Resultantly, a new `CD drama culture` appeared that sunk the already dwindling standards of Pashto film industry to even lower depths. A region that had once produced more than 70 Bollywood eine legends, who earned name and fame for the province, sadly started to churn out trash.

This stagnant and polluted environment continues to contaminate any raw talent that surfaces locally, if not completely devouring it. Those associated with the fields of performing arts, acting, singing, dancing, film and music productions have no other recourse but to look towards the `cultural hubs` of Lahore and Karachi. For the few who can afford it, studio and production house facilities abroad (such as Dubai) are feasible options.

History has proven that creativity peaks in times of crises. Our region too has produced many diamonds in the rough, but unfortunately there is no basic studio facility in the province to polish such rough stones into priceless gems.