Express News Service
SRINAGAR: A hartal call would be made from Islamabad calling for shops to be shut down in Kashmir every time a major event was scheduled in Srinagar, not very long ago.
Fortunately, that has become history, said Union Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Jitendra Singh.
“The youth in Kashmir has moved on from the days when life used to come to a standstill and they no longer want to be identified with the past when Islamabad used to sabotage any important events by making a hartal call which would lead to shops in Lal Chowk downing their shutters,’’ Dr Singh said.
He added that 61 delegates from 29 countries are presently in Kashmir experiencing the culture and environment.
Nearly three decades have been lost to insurgency so the youth of India (50 per cent of the population is under 30) hasn’t seen Kashmir in films. With the resurgence of filmmakers returning to the valley there is bound to be more and more interest in bringing Kashmir back on 72 mm screens, said Information and Broadcasting Secretary, Apurva Chandra.
The ongoing G20 Tourism Working group meeting has the objective of bringing the shooting of films in the Valley back on the manifold. Interestingly 370 films have sought permission to shoot in Kashmir – from across the country and the OTT platform is going to add to those numbers.
Shahrukh Khan, Raj Kumar Hirani, and Karan Johar have been in Srinagar for shooting their films and the G20 meeting was attended by Ram Charan whose song ‘Nathu Nathu’ won an Oscar.
“Kashmir is a place I have loved and cherished as I used to accompany my father (actor Chiranjeevi) for film shoots here and I would love to go back to shooting for films here. It is serene and beautiful,’’ said Ram Charan who besides being an actor is also a producer. He said in 2016 he shot for a film in SKICC (the venue of the ongoing G20 meet).
Ram Charan enthralled the audience at the G20 meet when he and South Korean Ambassador to India Chang Jae-bok shook a leg together on stage on ‘Naatu Naatu’.