In Kashmir’s chequered cinema history, it is after more than 50 years that promos of a locally-made Bollywood movie, Welcome to Kashmir, were released at a cinema hall in Srinagar, a major leap for an otherwise defunct film industry, with just one cinema hall in the Valley functioning and over a dozen halls closed down in the past 30 years.
The film is scheduled to be released on May 26 at INOX, Shivpora, in Srinagar, the only multiplex in Kashmir, opened in September 2022. “The motivation behind the movie was a positive portrayal of Kashmir. Bollywood directors come and shoot in Kashmir but the portrayal is mostly negative and focussed only on one particular subject. This movie is about Kashmiri culture, its people, and social issues like drug addiction and women empowerment,” Kashmir-born Bollywood director Tariq Ahmad Bhat said.
It was in 1964 that Kashmir’s tryst with film-making began with Manziraat (‘henna ceremony’), the first film to be screened at a cinema hall in Srinagar, much to the excitement of locals. This was followed by Mehjoor in 1972. The last such film, Inqalaab, was produced in 1989 but could not be released as militancy broke out in J&K. Eleven cinema halls downed shutters in the Valley amid raging violence and growing protests of the 1990s.
“We intend to take the Kashmiri movie to other States of India, and abroad, too. We have subtitled Kashmiri songs for our non-Kashmiri viewers,” Mr. Bhat said.
In 2006, a locally made digital feature film, Akh Daleel Looluch (‘a story of love’), was made but could not be released in theatres as they had all shut down.
Mr. Bhat said Welcome to Kashmir would be a unique film as the entire crew is from Kashmir. “The movie will highlight the grimness of the drug addiction problem gripping the Valley. It also has local women empowered enough to walk shoulder to shoulder with their counterparts in other parts of the country,” Mr. Bhat, who organised the screening of the film’s promos in Srinagar, said.
A growing number of filmmakers from across the country have shot their films in Kashmir in the past two years. Official data say around 300 movies were shot in Kashmir in 2022.
“Around 300 destinations, including untouched destinations, have been identified for film producers and directors to choose from for shooting in Kashmir. This year, our focus is to promote film tourism,” Syed Abid Rasheed, Commissioner Secretary-Tourism, who attended the screening of the film’s promos, said. He added that Kashmir offers better destinations than Europe.
