Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed today met leading Bollywood film-makers and actors here and requested them to rediscover the state as a destination for the film shoots.
Those who attended the meeting included film-makers Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Govind Nihalani, Sudhir Mishra, Vishal Bharadwaj, Madhur Bhandarkar and actors Manoj Bajpai, Anupam Kher, Irrfan Khan, Soha Ali Khan, Gul Panag and Gulshan Grover.
Earlier in the day he met the Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan and the legendary actor Dilip Kumar, separately.
The state was eager to revive its association with the Bollywood, Sayeed told them, and assured all the facilities including foolproof security for the shoots.
The state, once a favorite destination of the Mumbai film industry for locales, fell off the radar due to the insurgency which was at its peak in the 1990s.
The chief minister was accompanied by his deputy Nirmal Singh and Finance and Culture Minister Haseeba A Drabu.
Talking to the reporters afterwards, Sayeed said Bollywood had been an integral part of the "J-K fairy tale". The geography and the climate of the state was unrivalled anywhere in India, he said.
He also noted that Mumbai and Maharashtra contribute the largest number of tourists to Jammu and Kashmir.
"We are focusing on improving tourism in off-season period as well by bringing chartered flights. Due to the recent floods, the growth rate has come down to 1 per cent from 8 per cent. Long-term investment is needed in the tourism sector," he said.
Speaking on this occasion, Bharadwaj, whose recent film 'Haider' was set in Kashmir, said he never faced any problem while shooting in the state.
