CM Omar Abdullah hosts rare Mirzapur screening to revive Kashmir's cinema culture

Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah joined a packed audience at Srinagar's sole working multiplex to watch Mirzapur alongside the film's cast, in what organisers described as a rare public screening aimed at reviving the Valley's dormant cinema culture.

Star cast joins Valley audiences

The screening at INOX in Shivpora brought Pankaj Tripathi, who plays Kaleen Bhaiya in the hit Mirzapur series, and Divyenndu, known for his role as Munna Bhaiya, to sit with local film enthusiasts during the ongoing International Film Festival Jammu & Kashmir. The four-day festival, running under the theme 'Rang-e-Cinema', features 135 films from 41 countries being screened across venues including the Srinagar multiplex.

Push to rebuild film ecosystem

Abdullah used the occasion to argue that visits by prominent actors and filmmakers would deepen the region's ties to cinema and help build a sustainable film industry in Jammu & Kashmir. He praised the contribution of the Mirzapur cast to Indian cinema and called the festival "a good beginning" that offers outsiders a window into Kashmiriyat and local culture.

Tripathi echoed the sentiment, saying the event could motivate more filmmakers to produce work in the region. "There is great talent here," he said. Divyenndu urged local filmmakers to step forward and create films, stressing that residents need to watch and promote such work to sustain the momentum.

Long road back from 1990s closures

Kashmir's cinema infrastructure collapsed in the 1990s when around 15 halls shut down, and successive attempts to revive the culture failed. INOX opened in 2022 as the first functional multiplex after a gap of 23 years, marking a tentative return of theatrical screenings to the Valley. The festival's use of the venue signals an effort to normalise public film consumption in a region where cinema-going had all but disappeared for more than two decades.

Source: The Hindu