Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha Tuesday inaugurated INOX multiplex theatre, with a seating capacity of 520 seats, in Srinagar in the august company of invited guests from the media, senior bureaucrats and top brass of the different security agencies. The common people were not part of the inaugural ceremony.
Addressing the audience after the formal inauguration LG Sinha said, "We are in talks with various stakeholders and have identified the land for developing Film City and the facility will come-up in the UT soon".
The new cinema halls and ongoing film shootings will renew the beautiful bond between Jammu Kashmir and the Indian Film Industry, he added. Cinema brings people together. Apart from entertainment it gives hopes, dreams and inspiration to youth to pursue their dreams till they realise it,” Lt Governor said.
Congratulating the promoters behind the project namely Vijay Dhar & INOX Group on the occasion, the Lt Governor said that a major Socio-economic revolution is sweeping through J&K in the last 3 years and it is a reflection of a new dawn of hope, dreams, confidence and aspirations of people, he added.
The Lt Governor observed that the opening of multipurpose Cinema Halls in Shopian, Pulwama and the first-ever Multiplex Cinema Hall in Srinagar marks the revival of cinema culture in the Kashmir valley after three decades.
Following the inauguration of two multi-purpose cinema halls in Pulwama and Shopian, the UT Government is building multi-purpose cinema halls in all the districts of J&K.
The Lt Governor said that the new Film Policy has been rolled out with special provisions and incentives for encouraging local youth to take up film as a career.
Vijay Dhar, Chairman DPS and owner of Broadway theatre expressed gratitude to the Lt Governor led UT administration and the INOX group for bringing back the joy of movie-viewing in cinema halls to Kashmir. He also threw light on the golden era of cinema and film-shooting in Jammu Kashmir.
To mark this momentous occasion, a special screening was held for the cinema lovers of the region. The multiplex is expected to be thrown open for the common movie lovers from September 30.
Siddharth Jain, Executive Director, INOX Group, while speaking on the occasion, said that the launch of the new multiplex theatre in Kashmir will make the region a part of the country's creative economy and contribute to strengthening the soft power of the country.
"We are also looking to win the hearts of cinema lovers of Kashmir by offering them a world-class cinema-viewing experience, amalgamation of top-notch technology, great hospitality, best of cinema comforts, a blend of local designs, Dolby Atmos audio technology, latest 3D & projection technology and a professionally trained team. We are also looking forward to taking our artistic learning from Kashmir to the world, he said.
The ceremony was attended by Subhash Chandra, Former Member Parliament, Rajya Sabha and Chairman Essel Group, Rajat Sharma, Editor-In-Chief and Chairman, India TV.