Bollywood’s lost love: the forgotten cinemas of Indian Kashmir

Mohammad Ashraf’s eyes light up when he recalls the glory days of the Naaz cinema. In a bygone time, before Kashmir became synonymous with unrest, the Naaz was a beacon of light entertainment: it occupied a marvel of architecture that still houses Ashraf’s humble shop.

Day trippers from miles around would make a beeline for the cinema to watch one of its three shows a day. “I used to shut my shop before 9pm [just so I could catch the last screening],” he says.

Before the insurgency against Indian rule broke out, there were as many as 15 cinemas operating in Kashmir – a region Bollywood directors were fond of. Celebrated auteur Yash Chopra used the area as a backdrop for films such as the 1976 romantic drama Kabhi Kabhie , and locals like Pahalgam native Abdul Hamid would be used as extras.

“I worked in Bollywood movies like Farishtay and Raaj Tilak ,” Hamid recalls. “They would pay about 100 rupees (US$1.42) per day to the young boys like me and would pick [us up] and drop us [back] home.”

Those halcyon days were shattered – seemingly forever– when a disputed state election led to the outbreak of the insurgency in 1988. Rebel fighters deemed cinemas like the Naaz un-Islamic, and the movie screens went dark as the violence intensified, as if portraying the fortunes of Kashmir itself.

But now, more than three decades on, there is a flicker of hope for the region’s long-suffering film lovers.