New Delhi: Cinema is catching up in Kashmir as Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘Pathan’ is followed by Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’ Hollywood film, which is running house-full at Srinagar’s only multiplex since its release.
According to Srinagar’s INOX multiplex theatre, ‘Oppenheimer’ is running back-to-back houseful shows, making it the first Hollywood film to garner such a response in the Valley. Earlier it was Shah Rukh Khan starrer ‘Pathan’ which got a huge response from the public in the valley.
Vikas Dhar, owner of INOX Srinagar, said, “This is the first Hollywood film which has received such a good response from the public. We didn’t think that there would be such a huge crowd for a Hollywood film in the valley. It definitely exceeded our expectations. It is still running strong even after a houseful weekend.”
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Hundreds of people have seen the film since its release. The only multiplex in Srinagar is running four shows of the film every day and most of them are running houseful. According to the theater, tickets for ‘Oppenheimer’ were sold out before the film’s release.
Filmgoers from not only Srinagar but also from other far-flung districts of Kashmir region are flocking to the cinema halls to watch his film on the big screen. And the young generation of the valley has never seen a theater in their life. There were dozens of cinema halls in Kashmir till the early 1990s, but with the onset of militancy, all the cinema halls in the valley were closed.
One said, “When we heard about this film, all our friends had booked tickets in advance. Our friends came to watch it. And it’s great that we are watching Hollywood movies in a multiplex, that too in Srinagar.”
The multiplex located in Shivpora area of Srinagar has three screens and a total seating capacity of around 520 people. And this is the second time since the reopening of cinemas in the Valley, that multiplexes have got housefull boards.
Multiplex owners are expecting a huge response for Karan Johar’s upcoming film ‘Rani Aur Rocky Ki Prem Kahani’. Vikas Dhar, owner of INOX Srinagar said, “We are getting huge advance bookings for Rani and Rocky’s love story. We are looking forward to break all the previous collection records with this film.”
There was a revival of cinema in the Kashmir Valley after three long decades. Earlier in the 80s, there were half a dozen cinema halls in Kashmir, but all of them were shut down after terrorist threats and attacks, due to which they had to shut down their business.