Bollywood big banners arrive in Kashmir

A major shot in the arm of the tourism sector that is facing huge revenue and job losses.

Officials said the delegation is on a four-day visit to explore scenic backdrops in Gulmarg and Pahalgam for their projects.

Bollywood’s big banners on Thursday arrived in Kashmir giving a major shot in the arm to the tourism sector which is facing over ₹2,615 crore revenue loss and around 65,000 job losses since the Centre ended J&K’s special status in August, 2019.

The 24-member Bollywood delegation included members of the Ajay Devgun Films, the Sanjay Dutt Productions, the Reliance Entertainment, the Rohit Shetty Films, the Zee Studios, the Adhikari Brothers & SAB (Marathi), the Endemol, director Rajkumar Hirani and the Excel Entertainment. Several representatives from the Producers Guild, Mumbai, are also accompanying it.

“The top production houses have visited various locations. Kashmir has been receiving good response from the film-makers since the opening of the tourism here in addition to the regional entertainment houses for shooting song sequences and commercial ads,” Director, Tourism, Kashmir, G.N. Itoo said.

Officials said the delegation is on a four-day visit to explore scenic backdrops for their projects. “Kashmir is a natural backdrop for the film-makers and the department has been making it easy for them to get permissions for shooting,” Dr. Itoo said.

The Valley is struggling to keep the tourism sector afloat, in the backdrop of the prolonged lockdown witnessed after August 5, 2019 and followed by the year-long pandemic.

The delegation is visiting Gulmarg and Pahalgam, officials said.

“The Producers Guild has praised the beauty of Gulmarg and expressed keen desire to shoot for their upcoming film projects at various locations in Kashmir,” a tourism official said.