After G-20 meeting, govt wooing foreign film crews toshoot in Kashmir

SRINAGAR

After the three-day tourism working group meeting of G20 delegates in Srinagar in May this year, the government is trying to get foreign film crews to Kashmir. According to Administrative Secretary of J&K Tourism Department Abid Shah, the side event during the G20 group meeting under the banner “Film tourism for economic and cultural preservation” has helped to get foreign film crews and “we expect even Hollywood to shoot in Kashmir”.

On Friday, Lieutenant-Governor Manoj Sinha, while inaugurating the first shooting of upcoming TV serial Pashmina, said that over 300 movies and serials have been shot in Jammu and Kashmir after the new tourism policy was announced two years back. “Film tourism will be a major driver of growth and job creation for Jammu & Kashmir. The UT Administration has launched the new film policy, after consultation with all stakeholders, and now J&K has emerged as a favourite shooting destination for film-makers,” the Lt Governor told the media after the event on Friday.

“Pashmina” is a new television serial which will be aired on SAB TV and is being directed by Siddharth Malhotra. The J&K Tourism Department has been busy in projecting Jammu and Kashmir as an international film shooting destination. Administrative Secretary of J&K Tourism Department Abid Shah said that the scenic locations in Jammu and Kashmir are being explored by filmmakers, especially after the G20 meeting in Srinagar. He said that the government has already identified more than 300 unexplored shooting destinations for the film crews in Jammu and Kashmir. L-G Manoj Sinha is full of confidence that Hollywood will soon be shooting in Kashmir as many new destinations have been added to the film-shooting destinations.

Manoj Sinha on Friday said “I feel that the era when Hollywood or Bollywood films were shot here till the 1980s, is returning. More than 300 films have been shot here. Today, SAB TV has started the serial ‘Pashmina’ from here and I wish them the best.”