Mumbai: Secretary, Tourism & Culture, Sarmad Hafeez today appealed to the film fraternity of the country to renew its decades’ old romance with Jammu and Kashmir even as he pitched for making the UT as the premier shooting destination of India.
Attending the national level Film Tourism symposium, organized jointly by the Ministries of Tourism & Information & Broadcasting here this evening, the Tourism Secretary dwelt in detail on the long and age old relationship Jammu & Kashmir has had with Bollywood and other film platforms of the country.
He reminded the film industry of its warm and affectionate relationship with Jammu and Kashmir which the people of the UT so fondly recall.
He appealed the members of film world to take up this thread of warm relationship forward and start re visiting Jammu and Kashmir in good numbers for shooting.
Asking the film fraternity to partner with UT administration in this regard, Sarmad Hafeez said the Government has recently put in place a comprehensive Film Policy by which film shooting and production in J&K has been institutionalized and incentivized. In a detailed presentation about the Film Policy, he outlined the thrust areas and scope for working on film projects in Jammu & Kashmir.
He said for the first time shootings in the UT have been incentivized and requisite infrastructure for the same is being made available.
On the occasion several Bollywood producers shared their experiences of Kashmir and said that they have special love for the place. They assured of their support in turning to UT for shooting again.
Earlier in the day, the Secretary Tourism had a series of meetings with representatives of several tourism trade bodies based here.
A delegation of members of the Travel Agents Federation of India exhibited keen interest in several products being offered by Jammu & Kashmir Tourism including MICE and corporate tourism. Several other delegations also met Sarmad Hafeez and enquired about the potential of various segments like adventure tourism, winter sports, spring festivals etc.