January 21
Prominent Businessman,Vijay Dhar, who runs Delhi Public School in Srinagar is planning to open a cinema this year.
Post a gap of nearly 30 years, Cinema Theatres are set to return to the conflict torn Himalayan region of Kashmir Valley as the region will have first cinema theatre soon. The Governor of Jammu Kashmir, Satya Pal Malik had in November given a green signal for the proposal
The cinemas in Kashmir valley were closed down here after the eruption of militancy in late 1988. The cinema owners in Kashmir attempted to reopen theatres in 1999 when the then government offered them interest-free loans.
There were three cinema halls which accepted the offer and attempted to re-open the halls. They later had to close down their businesses once again after the militants carried attacks.
On September 24, 1999, a grenade exploded outside one cinema hall located in the city centre, when the viewers were coming out after the maiden show. One person from Lasjan area namely Muhammad Hafeez Rather died and a dozen others were wounded. The theatres were abruptly shut again.
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Since then no cinema is operational in Srinagar.
“I want young people here to enjoy the same entertainment as people in the rest of India. If some object and don’t want to come, that’s fine, but for those who want to visit a cinema we need to provide that basic amenity,” Dhar said while speaking to Guardian.
Dhar is not deterred. He loves the cinema so much that he flies to Delhi once a month to gorge on films. His aim in opening a multiplex, he says, is to recover some aspects of “normalcy” that have been lost in three decades of bloodshed.
Before the outbreak of militancy in Kashmir, cinema halls were one of the big businesses in Kashmir valley. There were nine single screen cinemas in Srinagar. But at present most of them have either been converted into Military garrisons or shopping malls. Some of the cinema halls like Sheeraz in the old city have been transformed into security camps.
The Khayam is now a heart institute while the Naaz has been replaced by a mammoth shopping plaza. The skeleton of Palladium Theatre in historic Lal Chowk houses security bunkers. It served as a makeshift office for the police officers deployed in the area.