SRINAGAR: Stars from the “Bollywood,” India’s active Bombay-based film industry, continue to flock to the scenic Kashmir region, to sing and dance in green meadows against the backdrop of snow-capped peaks.
So are TV crews.
Filmmaker Imtiaz Ali’s “Highway” has reached Kashmir and lead actors Alia Bhatt and Randeep Hooda have been filming at some stunning locations.
Kashmir is one of the six states, along with Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Himchal, where the movie is being shot.
In this final rigorous schedule of Highway, the team has had to trek 2-3 km every day to reach those picturesque real locations in Kashmir. They have been shooting in the upper reaches of Aru valley in the small hutments of the local shepherds.
The crew has also shot at the snow-clad upper reaches of Chandanwadi which has absolutely breathtaking views.
Earlier this year some film and soap producers completed shooting in Kashmir while others are in pipeline.
The latest to be shot in the valley is the TV serial Mahabharata, based on a Sanskrit epic narrating the Kurukshetra War and the fates of the Kauravas and the Pandava princes. Also a Chandigarh-based crew last month completed their shooting in Kashmir.
Last year Ranbir Kapoor and Deepak Padukone starrer Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani was extensively shot in famed ski resort of Gulmarg and Pahalgam. It was Ranbir’s second film to be shot in Kashmir after Rockstar.
The Bollywood blockbuster Jab Tak Hai Jaan was also made in Kashmir last year.
‘Future Hopes’
Making movies in Kashmir costs about 100 times less than shooting outside India.
A generation of Indians has grown up seeing Bollywood stars romancing in shikaras (small Kashmiri boats) floating on blue lakes amid pine forests and icy fields.
But When a bloody separatist rebellion erupted in 1990, film crews avoided the area, leaving moviegoers and directors to dream of motion pictures waiting to be made in the alpine region.
Now, with peace returning, tourism officials in Kashmir are hopeful of getting things back to being as they were.
“We are sure it will pick up and get more revenue for the state, but a collective effort is needed.”
