FICCI Frames 2019: Notebook director Nitin Kakkar shares his experience shooting in Jammu & Kashmir

FICCI Frames 2019 is a global convention on Media and Entertainment that discusses the various issues and topics revolving around films and media. After talking about small-budget films breaking through, a session to discuss film shoots in the beautiful land of Jammu and Kashmir was held on day 2 of the 20th edition of FICCI Frames. Moderated by Atika Ahmed Farooqui, this session had panelists like Mr Javid Bakshi, Director SKICC, Dept. of Tourism, Government of J&K; actress Divya Dutta, filmmaker Nitin Kakkar, actress Feryna Wazheir, and Siddharth Anand Kumar, producer of film Hamid.

Filmmakers have often faced issues while shooting in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. It has been a part of many films from time to time, but lately, there were occasions when film shoots were stopped completely in Kashmir or the cinema halls were shut for a long period of time. This again changed in recent times as many films were shot there and filmmakers continue to go to shoot in and around Kashmir but still, a discussion on these topics was required.

Actor, Divya Dutta started the session by saying, “I shot for a film there with Gurdas Mann and more recently Gul Makaiand had the best time shooting there with people being absolutely supportive and warm towards everyone.” She even went on to narrate an incident where a saffron seller told her that the tourism in J&K has lowered and she felt really bad about his condition.

Notebook director, Nitin Kakkar also shared his opinions on the issue and said, “We have shot for 44 days in Kashmir and stayed there for around 60 days but not once did we have to cancel our shoot because of threat or fear. We did cancel two days shoot because of weather but not for any other reasons.” He even shared his experience while the recce for the same film. The newspaper said that a curfew was on for the day in the state and he feared to go out and finish his business. But it was the driver who told him that everything is normal and they can go to complete the recce without any problems. And, obviously, nothing ill happened then.

The former speaker even requested the media to show the positive side of the place and encourage people to visit Kashmir. The negative reporting scares people while the situation may not be as bad. Nitin Kakkar added by informing how Switzerland was found to shoot films as an alternate to Kashmir and has become the new Kashmir for Indian filmmakers.

Javid Bakshi, Feryna Wazheir and Siddharth Anand Kumar also spoke about this issue at length and put forward their point of view in front of the panel. Well, we hope to see more of the scenic beauty of J&K valleys and these issues to be resolved as soon as possible. In the meantime, stay tuned to CineBlitz for more such updates from the world of Bollywood.