As Jammu and Kashmir hosts its first international film festival, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said it is to remind the film industry that, before Switzerland and other countries, Bollywood films were shot in Kashmir. The International Film Festival of Jammu and Kashmir (IFFJK) is being held from September 7 to 10.

The valley, with its beautiful landscape, had been a favourite destination of filmmakers. But as the first signs of militancy surfaced in 1989, Bollywood disappeared from Kashmir. We explain how militants’ threats led to the shutdown of film theatres in the valley, snapping Kashmir’s connection with Bollywood.

Bollywood’s tryst with Kashmir

Until 1989, Kashmir was one of the most favourite destinations for Hindi filmmakers. Be it Junglee (1961) starring Shammi Kapoor and Saira Bano, or the Sunny Deol and Amrita Singh-starrer Betaab (1983) — which lent its name to the Pahalgam valley where it was shot, filmmakers would often turn to Kashmir’s beautiful landscapes for film shoots.

At the time, Kashmir had over a dozen cinemas, nine of them operating from the capital city of Srinagar.

The shutdown

As militancy erupted, cinema halls and liquor shops became the first target of militants. On August 18, 1989, a militant outfit called “Allah Tigers” announced a complete ban on cinema halls and liquor shops in Kashmir. Within the next few months, all the cinema theatres in the valley were shut down.

As the militancy gained a foothold in the valley, many of these cinema halls were occupied by the security forces, turning them into makeshift camps and interrogation centres. Some others were converted into hospitals, nursing homes, and business centres.

As cinemas were shut down, the Indian Army intervened and opened some of its garrison theatres for the public such as Thimayya Hall in Baramulla and Zorawar Hall in Pattan. But as militancy took a turn and fidayeen (suicide attackers) started to storm the security camps, these theatres were closed to the public as a security measure.

The government push

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In the mid-1990s, after an elected government came to power in Jammu and Kashmir in 1996,  the government pushed for reopening of cinema theatres in Kashmir by promising them interest-free loans. In 1998-99, three cinemas reopened in Kashmir: Broadway and Neelam in the high security zones of Badamibagh cantonment and Civil Secretariat respectively, and Regal cinema in the heart of the city.

On September 24, 1999, as moviegoers were coming out of Regal cinema after watching Pyaar Koi Khel Nahin on the first day of re-opening, militants hurled a grenade, killing a civilian and injuring over a dozen people. The cinema was shut again, this time permanently. Now, a big shopping centre is coming up in its place.

The Broadway and Neelam cinema halls continued to run, but low footfall made them financially unviable. Broadway closed down in 2005 while Neelam survived for another five years before eventually shutting down in 2010 — in between, the latter survived a fidayeen attack in 2005. So, the valley was once again without cinema theatres.

Cinema returns

In 2022, the Dhar family, which owned the Broadway Cinema, made another push and opened the valley’s first multiplex theatre — INOX — in Srinagar’s high-security Shivpora neighbourhood.

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The 520-seater multiplex, with three movie theatres, is also the venue for screening the films shortlisted at the IFFJK.