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Light, sound, curtain: Cinema blooms in the Valley again

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  • Light, sound, curtain: Cinema blooms in the Valley again

    The symbolism of the moment was unmissable. The INOX multiplex — Kashmir’s first multi-screen experience, built over threeyears and with a capacity of 520 — stands just behind where the Broadway cinema hall once stood, until it was burnt down in 1991. The Badami Bagh cantonment, home to the 15 Corps of the Indian Army, is less than 700m away.

    On Tuesday morning, a group of more than 100 people filtered into a sparkling white building with black marble interiors. Its facade was lined with marigolds, and a celebratory blue ribbon adorned its front gates. The gaggle walked into the building’s carpeted halls, with the smell of popcorn thick in the air.

    At 11am, as they eagerly sat on cushioned seats, a giant big screen in front of them burst into life. In that moment, at the start of a film nobody in the room had watched yet, the audience burst into applause. For the first time in over three decades, the movies were back in Kashmir.

    The symbolism of the moment was unmissable. The INOX multiplex — Kashmir’s first multi-screen experience, built over threeyears and with a capacity of 520 — stands just behind where the Broadway cinema hall once stood, until it was burnt down in 1991. The Badami Bagh cantonment, home to the 15 Corps of the Indian Army, is less than 700m away.

    So the weight of history was stark as Kashmir took one more tentative step into modernity, and at the same time, returned ever so slightly to what normalcy must have once felt like.
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