Kashmir's natural beauty mesmerises Bollywood filmmakers

Mesmerised by the Kashmir's natural beauty, the Bollywood film producers who are on a 4-day visit to Kashmir expressed their desire to shoot in the valley for their upcoming films.

A 24-member delegation from big banners of Bollywood arrived in Kashmir on January 27 and visited Gulmarg to explore the scenic backdrops for their future projects.

The delegation from Bollywood includes the members from Ajay Devgn 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.

It was also the first visit of the big Bollywood productions to Kashmir since the abrogation of J&K's special status in 2019.

According to IANS, Aashish Singh, who has already shot movies like 'Jab Tak Hai Jaan' in Kashmir, said the valley provides a perfect backdrop for the filmmakers and has the potential of becoming the shooting destination for the world.

"The sky is the limit for filmmakers in Kashmir. It has the potential to become not only a national but also an international shooting destination. It's time to rediscover Kashmir with the cooperation of locals and the administration. We need to scale up shooting and relaunch Kashmir," Singh said.

Singh also added that the connection between Bollywood and Kashmir is very old and will be long lasting.

Director of Tourism Kashmir, Dr G N Itoo said the top production houses have visited various locations in the valley. "Kashmir has been receiving good response from the Bollywood filmmakers since the opening of the tourism here in addition to the country's regional entertainment houses for shooting song sequences and commercial ads."

The CEO of the Producers Guild, Nitin Ahuja, said they want to revive the old relations with Kashmir and establish the feeling of brotherhood when the valley used to be the favourite backdrop for the filmmakers.

"We visited several locations and found them stunning. We also got overwhelming responses from the locals. The food is also amazing. The place is a complete package," he said.

Kashmir has been one of the favourite spots for Bollywood since a very long time. Several movies have been shot at Dal Lake, Srinagar's Mughal Gardens, Gulmarg and Pahalgam.

Celebrities who recently visited Kashmir include Singer Guru Randhawa, Jubin Nautiyal, Salman Ali, Music Composer Salim Merchant, TV Host, former Indian actress and model Sana Khan, Anchor Aditya Narayan and Anil Ambani of Reliance.

The Kashmir Files directed by Vivek Agnihotri is a recent film to have been shot in the valley. It is starred by Mithun Chakraborty, Anupam Kher, Pallavi Joshi, Puneet Issar and Arpan Tiwari.