Jammu: The Missing Frame

The red carpet had been rolled out. The cameras were rolling. Bollywood had arrived by the droves, with the likes of Vidhu Vinod Chopra suffused with a sense of nostalgia and exclaiming that finally it was a homecoming for him to come to Kashmir and watch the heralding of the first ever IFFJK( International film festival of Jammu & Kashmir) at the International Convention Centre in Srinagar. 

The inaugural session of the International Film Festival of J&K was held on 07^{th Sep 2026 with a passionate pitch by the CM, Omar Abdullah, making it known to the attendees, national as well as international film-makers, to carry a piece of J&K in their hearts, asserting that the UT was open, safe, vibrant and eager once again to welcome them with open arms.} 

Urging the congregation that had some of the who’s who of film making fraternity across the globe, the CM was in his element when he exhorted them that it was they who were now the virtual ambassadors for the UT  and should showcase J&K to the rest of the world as a happening place. The irony was striking. 

The festival carried the name Jammu & Kashmir, with words as ‘international film’ being used to mark the event being showcased as the joint representation of both regions of the erstwhile state. This ‘grandstanding’ has always been the wont of Kashmir-centric thinkers and doers for decades, to no end. 

Welcome to yet another write-up that has the seeds of dissension not only within J&K, but also outside the geographical boundaries of the UT. At the very outset, let me put a word of caution to the readers that this attempt of mine is not at all an anti-Kashmir article, but as an equaliser for the Jammu region. This should not become, as mentioned by me above, another tired Jammu vs Kashmir argument. Nor should anyone interpret it as resentment towards Kashmir’s success. Kashmir has an extraordinary cinematic landscape, and it is entirely legitimate that filmmakers should rediscover it. 

The problem begins when a festival carrying the name Jammu& Kashmir starts becoming, in perception and projection, predominantly a festival of Kashmir. ‘Jammu cannot be a prefix in nomenclature of the erstwhile state and a footnote in the narrative’.  Highlighting the cinema’s power to transcend cultural and geo-political divides, the present CM of J&K said it is a universal language that knows no borders, requires no translation, and reminds us of our shared humanity, urging the filmmakers from more than 40 countries to ‘seek out’ stories of J&K. Absolutely to the point. 

The reach of cinema in today’s world holds the same charisma that it held centuries back, when in 1895, the French inventors Auguste and Louis Lumiere held the first public screening of projected motion pictures at the Grand café in Paris. But more than this milestone, for J&K, the holding of IFFJK at Srinagar on 07 September 2026 transcends cinematic aspirations and dwells into the intangible world of Geo-strategic machinations. 

Once a place where, after sunset, all means of entertainment used to be shut under the threat of terrorists’ guns, the very idea of holding IFFJK has outsmarted all nefarious designs churned out by forces inimical to Indian interests on both sides of the Pir Panjal ranges. The same sentiments were uttered by Mr Jatinder Singh, Union Minister (MoS) in the PMO, who was called upon to address the conference at the IFFJK. 

Do the filmmakers, both at the national as well as international level, know that Jammu has a cinematic canvas that remains astonishingly unexplored? There is the grandeur of Mubarak Mandi, once the seat of Dogra royalty for centuries, and from where some very momentous decisions were made, which still have their reverberations felt on the firmament of this sub-continent. There is the Bahu fort overlooking the Tawi river. 

There are ancient temples of Purmandal and Utterbehni, and still much more in the form of world-famous Basholi, with its internationally recognised miniature Pahari paintings, many of them unfortunately being displayed at world-famous museums and exhibitions cum art festivals in the USA and even in Europe and not in India? 

There are Mansar and Surinsar lakes from which Dogra land derives its very sustenance as far as its identity goes. There are forests, mountains, rivers, forts and palaces which I am quite sure is a cinema-goer’s delight, provided put on the silver screen. But more importantly, there are people and stories. Stories of Dogra history, valour, as also of present-day soldiers and their border villages. Stories of partition and displacement; and not to miss countless tales from the border towns of Poonch and Rajouri. 

Once considered the ‘Sword arm of northern India ’, the simple folk of Dogra land belong to that civilisation which stood at the crossroads of destiny of this nation, both in terms of survival from onslaughts of foreign marauders from the NW of India as also the progenitors of a bygone era of chivalry. Is this not enough of ammo for the national / International film makers to charge their cinematic guns with loads of good material and direct them towards their cinema-goers? If it is not, then I am not sure what else will entice the cinema-goers to gravitate towards Jammu-centric stuff in the movies. 

The stated ambition of IFFJK was impressive. The organisers described it as a platform for artistic excellence, cultural exchange, filmmaking and film tourism, with international competition, regional cinema and industry interactions. The festival website also specifically provided for Jammu screenings. But an international film festival is not merely about where films are screened. It is also about where people are taken, whom they meet, what they see and what stories they carry home. 

If internationally known actors, directors, producers and cinematographers had come to J&K, why weren’t they taken to the cultural and historical locales of the Jammu region? Why couldn’t  IIFJK organise a dedicated Jammu film festival and story market, where local writers, filmmakers, actors, and production houses could pitch their stories to national and international producers? That would have been a genuine inclusion. 

The current IIFJK, by putting Jammu simply as the destination for ‘screening schedules’, is an outright insult to the countless cinegoers as well as acclaimed present & past Dogra actors and heroes who did proud the Bollywood world by their cinematic prowess. The spotlight of IFFJK should have crossed the mighty Pir Panjal ranges and landed on the terra firma of Jammu to be of any real worth. 

Could a complete half of the UT ( Jammu region) be discarded from the halo so garnered by this festival? There could have been a simple solution to this imbroglio. If the first edition has had its grand opening and principal ceremonies in Srinagar, then ideally the closing edition should have been earmarked for Jammu; the actual gateway to J&K. Because if IFFJK is genuinely a festival of international acclaim and representing the whole of UT, then Jammu cannot remain the missing frame in the picture.

(The writer is a retired army officer & a regular scribe of Rising Kashmir paper. He can be approached at his email: [email protected])