V.K. Sanju
''He is a Mammootty fan... A huge fan....''
Aamir, our boatman, pointed at Hussain, who was rowing alongside the shikara we were in. When my fellow traveler showed him a selfie he had taken with Mammootty at the Kochi airport on our way to Srinagar, a look of envious excitement appeared on Hussain's face. He likes not only Mammootty, but also Dulquer Salmaan and Prithviraj, apparently. He watches dubbed movies.
As we navigated the channels turning toward the floating market on Dal Lake, our conversation drifted toward the paths of cinema in Jammu and Kashmir. Aamir mentioned that classic Bollywood films were screened recently on four floating screens installed on Dal Lake. As visitors watched movies while sitting on the lakeside and in shikara boats, Dal Lake transformed into a massive open-air theater. When movies like Junglee, Kabhi Kabhie, Kashmir Ki Kali, and Arzoo- which captured the beauty of Kashmir-lit up the screen, viewers must have remembered how sparse the Indian cinematic map was without Kashmir.
This floating screen spectacle was part of the International Film Festival hosted by Jammu and Kashmir for the first time in history. Over four days, 135 films from 40 countries were screened across locations including Srinagar and Gulmarg. The Kashmir Valley, where theaters had remained closed for thirty years, suddenly opened its eyes to the vast expanse of global cinema.
The Theaters Where Lights Never Went On
Shadows fell upon cinema, which was once a part of Kashmir's cultural life, in 1989. Following strict bans by militant organizations, more than 15 theaters in the valley had to be shut down overnight. Hussain said that prominent theaters like Palladium, Regal, and Shiraz later turned into security camps, shopping complexes, or hospitals. Hussain only knows about these theaters through stories told by elders.
Although there was an attempt to revive cinema in 1999 by opening the Regal, Neelam, and Broadway theaters, a deadly grenade explosion right in front of the Regal theater on the very first day completely shattered those efforts. Following that, for over 20 years, a generation in Kashmir was unfortunate enough not to watch movies on the big screen. However, this crisis did not exist in the Jammu region; theaters remained active there.
The Return of Cinema
The official return of cinema to the valley was made possible with the opening of the INOX multiplex in Srinagar in September 2022. Following this, plans to establish multipurpose cinema halls with 100 seats each in all districts of Kashmir are also progressing rapidly.
Kashmir's cinematic journey from the dark memories of locked-down theaters to the open-air floating theaters on Dal Lake is turning into evidence of the peace and creativity being reclaimed in the valley.