J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Union Minister Jitendra Singh inaugurated the first international film festival of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday. Singh said the event reflects a return to normalcy and opens opportunities for local youth and artists.
Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Monday said the first International Film Festival of Jammu and Kashmir would add to the Union Territory’s cultural landscape and create new opportunities for young people.
Speaking at the inauguration of the maiden festival, he said the event also sends a strong message that cinema is as popular in Jammu and Kashmir as it is in the rest of the country.
Singh said the festival had become possible because of the prevailing normalcy in the Union Territory, and described it as a significant moment for a region that had once gone decades without cinema halls. He said the event would also serve as a major platform for local artists.
Lauding the organisers, Singh said, “We are grateful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the situation here is becoming favourable and returning to normal to an extent that we are able to successfully organise this programme here,” while also thanking the state government and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.
He said the occasion was heartwarming because he had seen the time when cinema halls in the Valley shut down one after another.
“A long period of about 20-25 years passed when we were deprived of cinema. Yet, this region has had an inseparable relationship with Indian cinema. We have seen the days when film shootings took place in every street-corner, garden and scenic vistas of Kashmir. Hotels and houseboats used to be bustling with guests from the film industry,” he said.
Recalling earlier links between Kashmir and Hindi cinema, Singh said, “I still remember the filming of ‘Kabhi Kabhie’ here. It featured a song – this beautiful lyric by Sahir Ludhianvi, ‘Main pal do pal ka shayar hoon’. The scene shows Amitabh Bachchan singing the song on a stage at a college programme. The audience in the sequence featured actual students from the Government College for Women, Srinagar.”