No takers for Pakistani film in Srinagar

Srinagar: The first Pakistani film to be screened in India in nearly 40 years has opened in Srinagar a cultural milestone for a region hit by a separatist insurgency and border disputes.

The film generated interest across India when it opened in April, and movie operators hoped the story examining militancy would draw crowds to the only operating theatre in Srinagar, the biggest city in Jammu and Kashmir .

"I've heard a lot about this Pakistani film and I wanted to watch it," said 25-year-old Shakeel Ahmad, who saw the movie on Friday, the day it opened.

The film, called Khuda Kay Liye (In the Name of God), was a record-breaking hit in Pakistan last year. The story centres on a young man drawn to militancy and his more liberal brother who moves to the United States and marries an American.

Despite the novelty of a Pakistani film and the cultural resonance of the plot, the movie is unlikely to sell out in Srinagar, a city where even movie theatres are fraught with political weight and violent history.

Insurgency

When the insurgency for a separate homeland or a merger with Pakistan was at its strongest in the early 1990s, rebel groups shut down liquor stores, bars, and any other establishment they saw as anti-Islamic or pro-Indian - movie theatres included. Srinagar's eight theatres were converted into makeshift army camps and detention centres.

The Neelam Cinema reopened in 1999 as part of an attempt by authorities to bring life back to normal in Kashmir.

Crowds have been slow to return. Only 15 people came to see the first showing of Khuda Kay Liye on Friday.

"It's disappointing," said Noor Mohammad, the cinema's manager. "In earlier days the traffic would jam outside for an average film." Officials have started organising other cultural events in Kashmir.

Last month, in an unprecedented concert, a Pakistani rock band performed before a crowd of thousands in Srinagar in a night described by organisers as an "investment in peace".