Srinagar may not have opened up their cinema theatres yet, but the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, recently made a visit to the headquarters of Entertainment, Mumbai. He met some of Bollywood's top stars and producers, inviting, encouraging and assuring them of his government's full support if they decided to shoot their films in Kashmir. Kashmir, over the years, has been a victim of the combination of events that have taken place and the disproportionate disruption in perception that has led to the fall of tourists travelling to the beautiful valley. It is estimated that more than about 50% of people living there directly or indirectly are dependent on tourism and thus, if the number of tourists come down, many livelihood are affected as a result. While films like Haider and Highway shot there last year, Bajrangi Bhaijaan is currently being shot there.

Vashu Bhagnani was amongst the first to accept the invitation of the CM and decided to make a visit to Srinagar with two of his lead actors of his upcoming satire Welcome To Karachi - son Jackky Bhagnani and the stunning Lauren Gottlieb - to promote his film.

While Kashmir is often linked to our neighbour Pakistan, often for the wrong reasons, the only thing common between Welcome To Karachi and being welcomed into Kashmir was the uncanny similarity in the name 'W2K'.

When Vashu Bhagnani was asked his reasons for coming to Kashmir, he said, “I will come here to even promote my sequel - Welcome To London.“ He also committed to shooting his next film there.

This was Jackky's first visit and talking about it he said, “I am loving being in Srinagar. Prior to coming here, I had a different perception of Kashmir. That when I land in the city, there would be army people all around and that people would not be peaceful. But in contrast, it's just like another Indian city. Yes, there are hardships and it's not an easy life for people here, but everyone has a smile on their face and they look peaceful. People are so much warmer than I thought. People say it's pretty, but it is way prettier than I thought. I have travelled all over the world and you think of the Alps when you think of beauty, but this is way more than that and that may also be as it is in our India. If Srinagar is like this, I can't even imagine how beautiful Gulmarg and Pahalgam may be.“

Shailendra Kumar, Commissioner Secretary, Tourism, said, “Over the last two decades, barring a few films, not much shooting has happened here. We find that the largest challenge with the tourism department is to fight the perception that exists outside. If films will be shot here, then people will get the message that Kashmir is back to being normal and that they can come and enjoy their summers here. There is so much to be explored in Kashmir in terms of locations. Till the film Betaab was shot here and we built the Betaab Valley, no one would go beyond a point in Pahalgam. After 3 Idiots was shot in Pangong Lake, the number of tourists there have increased many times. Even though we don't charge for any locations, the film fraternity told us how it takes them months to get clearances for permission. And while we don't give incentives to a producer for shooting here, we have decided to give them a one window clearance for shooting anywhere they want, within 7 days of their submitting the exact locations where they want to shoot.“

Vashu Bhagnani said, “We don't need any incentive as naturally, Kashmir is so beautiful. Our problem is only the 14 inches of distance between the heart and the brain that we need to cover.“