Omar Abdullah Pushes For Talent And Infrastructure As J&K Seeks To Bring Filmmakers Back To Valley

New Delhi: In a renewed push to restore Jammu and Kashmir's once-vibrant role in Indian cinema, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah visited the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT) campus at the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) in Mumbai on Thursday.

The visit aimed to explore institutional collaborations, student exchanges, and infrastructure development to make the newly carved union territory a premier destination for filmmaking.

“We are trying to make films in Jammu and Kashmir again. We are trying to restore the film industry in J&K,” he told reporters.

“If we want Jammu and Kashmir to become an attractive destination for filmmaking, then human talent and post-production capability must be created locally, and that is where a relationship with an institution like IICT becomes important for us,” he added.

Chief Minister highlighted potential formal ties between IICT, NFDC, and the J&K government, allowing students from the place to train in advanced techniques such as post-production, editing, sound, and lighting. He expressed hope for extending IICT's hub-and-spoke model—with its main campus in Mumbai and satellite centers elsewhere; to establish a satellite campus in Jammu and Kashmir.

“It will be possible that one day IICT’s satellite campus will be established in Jammu and Kashmir," Abdullah said, adding he said, “the exercise would reduce costs, create jobs, and build local expertise,”.

Kashmir's cinematic history dates back to the 1960s, when it became Bollywood's favourite backdrop for romantic classics. Films like Junglee (1961), Kashmir Ki Kali (1964), Jab Jab Phool Khile (1965), and Himalaya Ki God Mein (1965) showcased the Valley's meadows, lakes, and snow-capped peaks, turning locations such as Pahalgam, Gulmarg, and Dal Lake into iconic settings.

Directors like Yash Chopra frequently chose Kashmir for its ethereal beauty, blending romance with nature in hits that popularized the region as "heaven on earth" and a honeymoon haven.

Beyond Bollywood, the Tamil film industry has also utilized Kashmir’s beautiful landscape. The sequences in Aalavandhan (2001), Leo (2023) starring Vijay, and other productions that braved cold weather for dramatic shots in the Valley.

However, terrorism in the 1990s disrupted shooting, and more recently, the April 22, 2025, Pahalgam terror attack which claimed 26 lives stalled many projects, leading to cancellations and shifts to alternative locations.

The incident severely impacted tourism and film activity, but many film shoots resumed by late 2025, with a Telugu comedy crew filming in Pahalgam as a sign of recovery.

Pertinently, J&K government has actively promoted revival through policies like the Jammu and Kashmir Film Policy (updated in 2024), which offers single-window permissions, subsidies, and incentives to attract domestic and international productions. Efforts include identifying unexplored shooting spots and easing regulations to draw filmmakers back.

Abdullah's outreach to IICT aligns with these initiatives, focusing on skill-building to sustain a local ecosystem. By fostering talent in AVGC-XR (Animation, VFX, Gaming, Comics, and Extended Reality); IICT's specialty; the UT aims to lower production costs and generate employment while leveraging its natural “sets”.

“With the security situation improving and new collaborations taking shape, we believe Jammu and Kashmir’s landscapes will once again be seen on the big screen. This revival can bring filmmakers back, strengthen tourism, and open opportunities for our youth in the creative economy,” said a local stakeholder involved in the Valley’s film and tourism sector.