Cinema reopened in Kashmir after 23 years
The cinema halls to reopen in Kashmir under Indian administration in more than twenty years. Reports from different news sources discuss the impact on the populace of the cinema’s return to the conflict-torn region.
A papier-mâché theatre logo and intricate wood carvings on the ceiling and doors may be found in the foyer of the INOX multiplex in Srinagar, the capital city of Kashmir.
Class 10th student, Suhail Bhat, missed class on Friday to attend the theater’s grand opening and showing of the Hindi film Vikram Vedha.
“I am so happy. I used watched movies on TV and on my phone but I have never been to a theatre,” he says.
Bhat stays in the lobby with a bucket of popcorn and a soft drink as the movie enters its interval, occasionally taking pictures.
“I have been sending them to my friends who couldn’t make it – they are all so excited,” he added.
Three movie theatres, each with a high-tech sound system, plus a play area for children are part of the cinema complex.
Vikas Dhar, who has partnered with INOX to open the complex with his father, said that it took them four years to get to this point. The eight-room guest house was destroyed to make room for the four-story multiplex by the family.
Laal Singh Chaddha, an adaptation of the popular Hollywood film Forrest Gump, had its premiere on September 20. It stars Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan.
A “historic day” and “a reflection of a new dawn of hope, dreams, confidence, and aspirations of people,” according to Manoj Sinha, lieutenant-governor of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Dhars claim they wanted to provide Kashmiri children with the opportunity to experience “the world of fantasy,” a place ripped apart by decades of strife and violence.
“Children in Kashmir don’t have access to entertainment after school hours”, according to Mr. Dhar. So we made the decision to start this multiplex.
Kashmir, the only Muslim-majority area in India, had 12 theatres up until the early 1990s, with 10 of them located in Srinagar, the province’s capital.
The area, which is famed for its lovely meadows and picturesque vistas, was also used to film many Bollywood movies.
But late 1980s military resistance to Indian control led to the closure of movie theatres.
A militant organisation called Allah Tigers announced a ban on movie theatres and liquor stores, declaring them against Islam.
Many of these complexes were converted into security force camps in India, while others were made into malls and medical facilities.
In 1999, Indian authorities tried to reopen three halls, but their plans were halted when a fatal terrorist attack at the Regal Cinema left one person dead and eight others injured.
Manmohan Singh Gauri, the proprietor of the oldest Palladium theatre (previously Kashmir Talkies), can still recall their last showing of the Vinod Khanna–starring Bollywood film Maha Badmash, which took place on December 31, 1989.
Before it was destroyed by fire in 1993, Srinagar’s Lal Chowk neighbourhood cinema, which his grandparents had opened in 1932, had provided entertainment for Kashmiris for many years.
The cinema served as the setting for Jawaharlal Nehru’s momentous address on November 2, 1947, in which he promised the people of Kashmir a vote to choose between India and Pakistan. Although only some of Kashmir is under the jurisdiction of either country, both claim it.
When violence broke out in the area, Mr. Gauri and his family were forced to flee their homes and live as refugees in the Punjabi city of Amritsar. However, he was motivated to reopen his family business by the theatres.
In a meeting with Lt. Gov. Sinha, according to Mr. Gauri, discussed rekindling “the bond between Jammu Kashmir and the Indian film industry through cinema.”
The region lost its autonomy in 2019 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration divided it into the federally administered provinces of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
Since then, a number of laws and policies have been put into place, which the government claims would spur development but which are disputed by locals who believe the measures are intended to alter the region’s demographics.
Additionally, the Lt. Gov. Sinha-led administration has taken a number of steps to entice returning filmmakers to the area.
Cinema reopened in Kashmir after 23 years
In his inaugural speech at the INOX theatre, he stated, “”We are in the process of setting up a Film City here and also establishing 100-seater cinemas across all the 20 districts in Jammu and Kashmir,”
Local artists are hoping that the changes would enable them to exhibit their work.
Actor-director Mushtaque Ali Ahmad Khan adds, “I hope the new cinema halls will at least keep one screening per day for locally made films”.
Others have experienced nostalgia as a result of the reopening of theatres.
