Valley youth flock to Jammu cinema halls to watch ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’

Amit Khajuria

Tribune News Service

Jammu, July 24

Salman Khan and Kareena Kapoor starrer ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ is getting overwhelming response with youth, especially from Kashmir, making a beeline to the cinema halls around the city.

A significant portion of the movie, which was released on the Eid eve, has been shot in the Valley and people from Kashmir are visiting the Jammu to watch the film as cinema halls in the summer capital continue to remain shut.

Shoaib Ahmed, a post graduate student from Srinagar, was at KC Cineplex to watch the movie.

“It is an awesome movie. I am a big fan of Salman Khan and the depiction of Kashmir valley in the film is too good. I came here just to watch the movie. I wish someday we will have such a kind of multiplex in Kashmir,” said Shoaib.

“In the last 25 years of militancy we have lost business from Bollywood. Some of the movies like Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Jab Tak hai Jaan which were shot in Kashmir have got overwhelming response from all over India. The Bollywood should make more movies in Kashmir and promote its beauty,” Shoaib added.

All the eight auditoriums in four multiplexes are running houseful for the last five days and next week has already been booked.

“We have got very god response from the public for this movie, especially from the Kashmiri people. We are getting calls from influential people from Kashmir for tickets as all the shows are running houseful,” said the manager of a multiplex here.

“Kashmiris are very fond of movies and hundreds of people from the Valley come here to watch movies,” he added.

The cinema halls in the Kashmir valley were closed down after the start of militancy in 1990.

About eight cinema halls in Srinagar and few in other towns were closed by radical groups, calling it un-Islamic.

During the shooting of ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ in Kashmir, Salman had said it was high time to reopen cinema halls in Kashmir.