Explained: How Bollywood Is Rekindling Its Relation With Kashmir After Article 370 Abrogation

Kashmir has been a popular destination for many Bollywood filmmakers. Films like Junglee (1961), Arzoo (1965), Bobby (1973), Roti (1974), Kabhie Kabhie (1976), and more recently, Rockstar (2011), Student of the Year (2012), Highway (2014), Haider (2014), Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2015), Laila Majnu (2018), Manmarziyaan (2018), Romeo Akbar Walter (2019) and Notebook (2019) have been filmed here.

Since the 1960s till the late 80s, a number of films have been shot in the majestic valley but everything changed due to the sudden rise of militancy in the valley during the 90s.

But with Bollywood¡¯s Mr Perfectionist Aamir Khan visiting the valley after a gap of 23-years for the shoot of his upcoming film Lal Singh Chaddha recently, it has brought a lot of hope for tourism and revival of Bollywood films in Kashmir. Khan had earlier visited the valley in 1998 for the shoot of film Mann.

¡°It is the best location for the film shoots that I have come across so far. Kashmir needs to be promoted at national and International levels,¡± Aamir told Indiatimes during his shoot in Srinagar.

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Aamir was joined by his close friend and film director, producer Rajkumar Hirani in Kashmir. He said, ¡°Earlier this place used to Bollywood¡¯s favourite stop for the film shootings and now government is making all efforts to revive the centuries old connection.¡±

Rahi Khan, the line producer at RK Productions said that shooting culture is reviving again. ¡°Some section of media had created a bad image about the valley and these film units still confirm about situation before packing their bags for here. But things have changed on the ground now,¡± he said.

Post August 5 Situation Derailed Several Plans

Several top actors including Sanjay Dutt, Alia Bhatt, and Sidharth Malhotra were scheduled to shoot in Kashmir for their upcoming projects after August 5, 2019 but the abrogation of Article 370 has put Bollywood¡¯s plans to shoot in Kashmir on hold. ¡°The recce for the films was also done and everything was scheduled,¡± said Khawar Jamsheed, line producer for the Bollywood films in Kashmir.

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Mohd Abdullah, the line producer at Firdous- E Kashmir Productions said, ¡°Two to three Bollywood films and one Telugu movie were slated to arrive in August but later the situation led to all the cancellations¡±.

COVID Worsened Situation Further

As per the line producers, several shoots were put on hold due to COVID lockdown.

As the things started moving normal after abrogation of Article 370, the pandemic took a hit on the film shoots. ¡°Since COVID cases started witnessing a downfall, we got a few Punjabi film units in the beginning that shot the songs at different locations,¡± said Shah Faisal Khan of Roaring Lions Production.

Shoots Done After Pandemic

The ¡®Lipstick Under My Burka¡¯ actress Garima Goel was in the valley in January with the team of Netflix for the recce of a shoot. She termed Kashmir ¡°a perfect destination¡± for the film shoots.

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The same month witnessed many music videos being shot in the valley. First it was music composer Salim Merchant along with Salman Ali who shot their upcoming song ¡®Tumhe Dekh Ke¡¯. Similarly, the singer-composer Jigar Saraiya shot his latest song Heera in Kashmir featuring actress Shriya Pilgaonkar. The team also worked with the local crew only.

Bollywood actress Mrunal Thakur and singer Guru Randhawa also shot their latest music video titled Abhi Na Chhodho Mujhe in Kashmir. Mrunal later described her experience of shooting in the valley as ¡®surreal¡¯ and ¡®enchanting¡¯.

Singer Jubin Nautiyal was in Kashmir in January to shoot for his single track. The rapper Badshah and the former Big Boss contestant Shehnaz Gill also shot for a music video here. South film actor Sai Srinivas Bellamkonda also shot for a Telgue movie. In April this year, actor Dulquer Salmaan and Mrunal Thakur shot for their upcoming untitled film in several parts of Kashmir.

What Experts Say?

A senior tourism official in Kashmir said they are using all the resources and manpower to bring the film Industry back to its favorite destination. ¡°We have set up single window clearance system for the film units who express their wish to shoot in Kashmir,¡± he said.

Director Tourism Kashmir G N Itoo said, ¡°When actors like Aamir Khan shoot in picturesque valley, this will definitely bring tourism and employment to the region.¡±

¡°The department is making all the facilities available to the film crews so as to bring more and more film units in the valley,¡± he said.

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A local filmmaker and festival director Mushtaaque Ali Ahmad Khan said that with the start of unrest in 1989, the film shootings in Kashmir came completely to an end.

¡°It was only after 1996 that a very few film units again started coming to the valley for shootings. Gradually the number of film units coming to Kashmir for shooting started increasing but unfortunately two years back the number of film units visiting Kashmir again came down to zero. Now just few months back when the COVID-19 has starting vanishing, we again see films units coming to shoot films, web series, music albums, etc,¡± he said.

Film Policy Rolled Out

J&K Lt Governor Manoj Sinha on August 5 this year launched Jammu & Kashmir¡¯s Film Policy-2021 in Srinagar in the presence of actor Amir Khan, filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani, and producer Mahaveer Jain.

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Officials said the government has set up single window clearance mechanism; prepared equipment, location and talent directories, besides offering a host of incentives for filmmakers coming to the UT.

The policy will facilitate an overall growth of film industry in the region; setting up of Jammu & Kashmir Film Development Council; a website for talent pool and shooting destinations; development of shooting locales, infrastructure for film screening; revival of closed cinema halls; upgrade of cinema halls; setting up of multiplexes and cinema halls; destination marketing; J&K film festival; and restoration and preservation of J&K films.

The writer is a freelance contributor based in Srinagar.