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| Will reopening of cinema halls lead to cultural aggression ? | | | When National Conference President and Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy,Dr Farooq Abdullah,advocated the need for opening of cinema halls in Kashmir, which stand shut since 1990, attracted sharp reaction from the separatists and from those supporting militancy.Possibly the separatists fear that once the theatres were reopened it will endanger Islam.They fear that the atention of the youth will get diverted from the ongoing Jehad to watching the sizzling and sexy scenes in the movies.Had Islam been threatened when the cinema halls,more than nine in Kashmir,were open ?Certainly not.Did people,especially the youth,forgot offering prayers in mosques when a large section of them,including those who were illiterate,justled and nudged while purchasing tickets for English movies ? No,never even if English movies were screened in each cinema halls.During the time the number of cinema goers swelled in the valley more than 5,000 mosques were renovated and rebuilt in the Kashmir valley indicating that alongwith the rise in cinema goers there was increase in the number of those following Islamic tenets in letter and spirit.
If the separatists are averse to the opening of cinema halls on the plea that Bollywood movies could result in some sort of cultural aggression on the people of Kashmir have they bothered to know as to how many families in the valley keep on watching Hollywood and Bollywood movies on their television sets through the cable connections ?If they do so they will find more than 80 per cent families having cable connections.During the last over two decades people in Kashmir have suffered severe odds,difficulties.They have watched scenes of death and destruction because of militancy related violence and activities.Now that the level of violence has declined people deserve break, rest and relaxation from the unhappy and bitter past.It is in the context of Farooq's plea for opening of cinema halls that filmmakers too have supported him. Noted filmmaker,Vidhu Vinod Chopra,has,in an open letter to the Jammu and Kashmir Government,urged the authorities to reopen the theatres in the Valley which stand shut since 1990.Chopra,known for his recent Munnabhai series and 3-idiots,has said that the cinema will privide catharsis of emotions for people in Kashmir who have lived in hell for two decades now.
These cinema halls were forcibly shut when militancy took roots in Kashmir during 1989-90.Not only the theatres but the wine shops and bars too were shut following repeated attacks by the weapon equipped militants.Farooq has made a sensible statement on the issue when he said that what harm the opening of theatres would do when people enjoyed watching films relayed through cable network system and on VCRs ?Police sources said that possibly separatists do not know,or feign ignorance on increase in the number of youths watching blue film on VCRs Chopra has said that by reopening the theatres people in Kashmir would get a chance to learn and make a new beginning.While accepting that his rise was the result of his learning initial lessons from watching films in Srinagar Chopra has said how could you deny the same opportunity,he had received, to thousands of young Kashmiris ? This is a question that needs to be taken note of by the separatists.Once the cinema halls were reopened it would open job avenues and allow people to rationalise their frustration through a harmless exercise.When the separatists have neither pleaded for celibacy,nor for austerity,nor for renunciation why should they ban means of entertainment and knowledge ? |
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