For people who live outside of the Kashmir Valley, cinema halls are generally places of lively entertainment, abuzz with queues and excited talk of the latest blockbusters. In Srinagar, however, cinema houses are more likely to resemble military garrisons – either actually housing paramilitary troops, or with overwhelming security to keep safe those few theatre-goers willing to brave the anger of fundamentalist groups.
Since the late 1980s, when insurgency exploded in Kashmir, militant outfits such as the Allah Tigers have issued a series of morality-based diktats, ordering cinema owners to pull down their shutters. Dukhtaran-e-Millat (Daughters of the Faith), a women's separatist organisation, has long rallied against perceived degeneracy in Jammu & Kashmir, and has many times marched through the streets of Srinagar, attempting to ensure that cinema halls were darkened. Similar bans have been imposed on liquor shops and street vendors selling fashion and film magazines.
Although the revival of popular cinema culture in Kashmir remains a distant dream, this spring did see Srinagar's Tagore Hall suddenly bedecked for a weeklong film festival, the first International Film Festival of Kashmir. The idea behind the event was not only to entertain, but also to groom aspiring filmmakers and art lovers in the Valley. The dramatic turnout – writers, filmmakers and students in particular – proved that the Valley's citizens have been awaiting such an opportunity to indicate their rejection of the fundamentalist lockhold on popular culture.
Not only had most festival-goers never attended a similar event, many had never even been in a cinema hall. Shafia Wani, a college student, said that she was more excited about the ambience inside the hall than about watching the films themselves. "There is a need to revive cultural activities in the Valley," she said. For most Kashmiris in Shafia's generation, entertainment has been – and remains – limited to the confines of the family house.