Film shooting raises tourism hopes in J&K

Actor Katrina Kaif has started shooting for her upcoming film “Fitoor” in the famous Nishat Garden on the banks of Dal Lake in the city.

The move is being seen as signalling a comeback of the tourism boom to this flood-ravaged City.

Braving the harsh Himalayan chill, Katrina, who arrived in Kashmir three days ago, came to the sets wearing a burqa (veil) in typical Kashmiri style. She was joined by co-actor Aditya Roy Kapoor, who romances her character in this adaptation of Charles Dickens’s “Great Expectations”.

Katrina sported a hair colour resembling that of evergreen actor Rekha. “Fitoor” is the first Hindi film being shot in Kashmir after last year’s devastating floods. It is about a love triangle involving Kashmiri boy Noor (Roy Kapoor), his lady love Firdous (Katrina) and the “Begum” (Rekha).

Witnesses said Katrina’s shooting went off smoothly on the first two days amid tight security. “The shooting will continue for a few more days,” a police official, who is also part of the film crew's security detail, told Deccan Herald.

The shooting of “Fitoor” in Kashmir was to have started in last October, but Kashmir was devastated by floods in September. Kashmir was an integral part of Bollywood films till the 1990s, when political instability severed the connection.  

Over the past few years, with improvement in situation, the Hindi film industry has gradually returned to Kashmir, shooting superhits like “Rockstar” and Shah Rukh Khan-Katrina starrer “Jab Tak Hai Jaan”.

Kashmir has been struggling to bounce back as a tourist destination since the floods, and “Fitoor” is the tourism industry's first major hope.