KHALID BASHIR AHMAD
For a long time, Kashmir society did not openly accept its youth visiting cinema halls. In fact, as late as up to the 1960s, parents seeking matrimony of their daughter would first convince themselves that the prospective groom was not a cinema or a hotel going guy. A woman visiting a cinema hall was a taboo. During 1940s, only a few of them could go for a movie. Gradually, the number of college going girls and working women visiting cinema halls picked up and during 1970s ladies at a cinema hall was a common sight. The 85 year old Krishna Misri, a former college principal, would watch films from her childhood and “went to the Palladium a lot”. “This place”, she told BBC Radio 4, “was so dear to me and so familiar to me. I can still picture it clearly in front of my eyes”. Author and former professor of English, Neerja Mattoo, too has fond memories of the cinema. “This cinema had the unique feature of a Lady’s Gallery where even unescorted young girls would feel safe to watch a movie”, Mattoo recalls. The first film she watched, in the company of her father and grandmother, in the cinema was a mythological movie, Ram Rajya. During 1940s, a cinema going daughter of a Muslim civil servant married the Sikh Manager of the Palladium Cinema and created a flutter in a conservative society.
Before 1947, film prints would arrive in Kashmir via the Jhelum Valley Road. However, in the wake of the Indo-Pak hostility over Kashmir the road was closed and film prints, as other commodities, started coming via the Banihal Cart Road, later named as the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway. The management of a cinema hall was required to intimate in advance the Government about the films it intended to show in the coming weeks. At times, which frequently happened during winters, when the snow caused roadblock and no film print could reach Srinagar the screening of the ongoing film was extended till the arrival of a new movie. Failure in electric supply would also disturb cinema schedules. In 1942, breakdown at the Power House, Mohura resulted in the closure of cinema halls in Srinagar for two days. In early 1930s and 40s, the films screened in Kashmir were generally based on mythological and historical characters, social and moral subjects, and romance and fantasy. Some of the films screened in the Palladium, the Regal and the Amresh between 1942 and 1945 include Dil ka Daku, Charnu ki Daasi, Daku ki Ladki, Hunter Wali ki Beti, Return of Toofan Mail, Hanso Hanso Duniya Walo, Pistol Wali, School Master, Rustum Sohrab, Hatim Tai ki Beti, Nausherwan-i-Aadil, Bhagat Surdas, Pagli Duniya, Mahatma Vidur, Din-o-Duniya, Circus Queen, Achut Kaniya, Nal Damyanti, Bhagat Kabir, Alibaba Chalees Chor, Krishna Sudama, Vish Kaniya, Shakuntala, Tansen, Ramraj, Laila Majnu, Sangal Deep ki Sundari, Shakuntala, and Kadambari.
Around the same time, the English movies screened at Srinagar and Gulmarg included Gold Rush, House of Seven Gables, History is Made at Night, The Earl of Chicago, One Night in Tropics, Magnificent Obsession, Blossoms in the Dust, How Green Was My Valley, The Little Foxes, To Be or Not To Be, Pied Piper, Jungle Book, They All Kissed the Bride, Sailor’s Wife, Black Panther, Strange Death of Adolf Hitler, Tarzan Triumphs, Arabian Nights, Sky’s The Limit, Bogie Man Will Get You and Wuthering Heights. During later decades, films like The Godfather, Doctor Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia, Mackenna’s Gold; World War movie like Where Eagles Dare, The Great Escape, The Dirty Dozen and Patton, and James Bond and Charlie Chaplin movies remained in great demand. Actors Sean Connery, Clint Eastwood, Gregory Peck, Al Pacino and Omar Sharief (more for his Muslim sounding name and Egyptian origin) were among the Hollywood actors watched with interest in Kashmir. A sizeable section of the Hollywood movie watchers would comprise people with little or no knowledge of English language and amazingly they understood and enjoyed the movies and appropriately reacted to dialogues with claps or howls.
New films would open on Fridays. It was after Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah’s return to power in 1975 that the 1 p.m. show on Fridays was scrapped for it weaned people, especially youth, off the Friday prayers. During 1970s, the Palladium Cinema held regular shows of South-Indian and Bengali movies which were screened daily at 10 a.m. The audiences for these films were army and para-military personnel posted in Kashmir. Around that time, Chan Mahi, a Punjabi movie from Pakistan, was screened in the Shriraz Cinema and drew large number of people, majority of whom did not speak or understand the language of the film.
In 1956, a feature film titled Pamposh, set in the backdrop of Kashmir, was screened in the Amresh Cinema. The film had many dialogues in Kashmiri language. Significantly, it was the first Indian movie in Geva colour. The film written and directed by Ezra Mir, had Mogli, Savi Multani and Rusi Patel in main roles. Young and handsome G. M. Parray of Sonawar, then Demonstrator (Geography) at the Amar Singh College, also did a supporting role in the film. It so happened that in 1952, Ambalal Jhaverbhai Patel established India’s first colour laboratory at Bombay. However, film producers were skeptical of handing over colour processing work to his lab. To demonstrate that the processing by his lab was of high quality, Patel produced Pamposh shot on Geva colour film negative which was highly appreciated for its beautiful visual quality. The film, however, did not do well in Kashmir and was removed after few shows.
When Khana-e-Khuda, a film based on the annual Islamic pilgrimage of Haj, was screened in the Shiraz in 1968 the entire cinema hall was first washed to give it a holy ambiance. Many people who came to watch the movie removed their footwear in reverence before entering the cinema hall. Many others showered candies on the screen. The cinema drew heavy rush of people – men and women of all ages. Likewise, many Sikh cine-goers removed their footwear before entering the Palladium Cinema where devotional film Nanak Naam Jahaz Hai was being screened in 1969. Another well attended ‘Islamic’ film was the 1970 release, Ziaratgah-i-Hind – Zeenat. The film captured all major Muslim shrines of India. Kashmir’s two important shrines, Hazratbal and Charar-i-Sharief also figured in the movie. The film’s credits were given in Urdu. A versified tribute to the shrines sung by Muhammad Rafi was the main attraction of the film. About the Hazratbal Shrine, the eulogy went like this: Srinagar mai hai Hazrat e Bal Khuda ke fazl o karam ka saaya Yahi Medinay ka paak tofta naseeb Moi-i- Mubarak aaya (Hazratbal in Srinagar is the silhouette of Allah’s blessings where the sacred gift of Medina, the Holy Relic has arrived). The Shriaz also screened the first Kashmiri feature film, Maenz Raat, in 1968 which was shot completely on location with Omakar Aima and Mukta in lead roles. The story of the film was written by playwright Ali Mohammad Lone. Other actors included Som Nath Sadhu, Pran Kishore, Shaheen Afroz, Nabla Begum and Pushkar Bhan.
In 1970, Shair-i-Kashmir Mehjoor, a biopic on Kashmir’s popular poet, Ghulam Ahmad Mehjoor, was released in the Regal Cinema. The movie, produced in Urdu and also dubbed in Kashmiri language, had veteran actor Balraj Sahni and his son Parikshat Sahni as the main actors besides several Kashmiri performers. Abdul Gani Wani, an elderly shopkeeper at Sonawar was very upset after watching the film and used uncharitable words against Mehjoor for exhibiting, what he felt, “shamelessness” by running after girls. It turned out that when he had arrived at the cinema hall he enquired if the film on Mehjoor was being screened there. A person selling tickets in black answered him in affirmative and sold him a ticket at a higher price. Throughout the movie, a yellow turban wearing innocent Wani could not make out that he was watching the Sunil Dutt-Asha Parekh starrer, Bhai Bhai, and not Shair-i-Kashmir Mehjoor that had been taken off a day earlier. He was such a naive guy that during the Indo-Pak War of 1971 when many people in Kashmir thought that China, in order to help Pakistan wrest Kashmir, would invade India, believed that the Red Army will “descend on Assam and seize Pathankot corridor connecting Jammu & Kashmir with India”!
In 1985, a Hollywood movie changed forever the complexion of resistance in Kashmir. That summer, producer Moustapha Akkad’s Lion of the Desert, a film on Libya’s resistance led by an uncompromising aged teacher and freedom fighter, Omar al-Mokhtar against the occupying army of Mussolini’s Italy, was screened at the Regal Cinema. Portrayed by actor Anthony Quinn, Mokhtar’s great courage and wisdom in fighting a mighty enemy and turning down offers of materialistic rewards to end the resistance won the hearts of the audience. They compared Mokhtar with Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, a mass leader and first Prime Minister of post-1947 Jammu & Kashmir who also had started his career as a teacher, whom they accused of selling out the “enormous sacrifices of Kashmiris for his lust for power”. Abdullah had died three years ago after abandoning resistance against Indian rule over Kashmir and embracing power. As the first wave of enraged young viewers came out of the theatre, they raised slogans against Abdullah and pulled down hoardings and banners in Lal Chowk depicting his name and image. Each show of the film brought out more enraged youth and the authorities quickly took off the movie but not before it had inspired a new resistance in Kashmir which erupted in 1989 as a full grown armed insurgency. One of the youth inspired by the movie was Muhammad Yasin Malik, Chairman Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front.
Movies on Indo-Pak hostility were not shown in Kashmir for the fear of cinema halls being targeted by agitated audience. It was only after the Indo-Pak War of 1971 in which Pakistan lost its eastern flank that the Broadway Cinema, located in the cantonment area broke this tradition and screened a newsreel on the fall of Dacca [Dhaka] and surrender of Pakistan army. The newsreel was shown before each show of the Hindi movie, Maryada. Streams of Kashmiri Pandits – men and women -were seen visiting the cinema to watch the newsreel while Muslims generally remained away. Later, a feature film, Hindustan Ki Kasam, based on Indo-Pak war was also screened at the Broadway Cinema.
Dilip Kumar’s films would run packed houses in Kashmir. As elsewhere, he had a huge fan following in the Valley. Even the re-runs of his movies would go houseful. Films like Devdas, Mughal-e-Azam, Naya Daur, Deedar, Aan, Leader, Dil Diya Dard Liya and Aadmi would keep on returning year after year to a huge response. In 1970, when Gopi was released at the Palladium Cinema for an All India premier, Lal Chowk wore a festive look with buntings and colour posters of the film fluttering everywhere, and a huge gathering of Kumar fans jostling each other to reach the ticket window. Dilip Kumar and his wife Saira Banu who was his co-star in the movie, also came to the Palladium to watch the film. They had a tough time to wade through the river of fans including men with long grey beard, dying to have a glimpse of their favourite actor or shake hands with him. “A beaming Kumar shook hands and exchanged pleasantries with some of them”, recalls Javed Azar, senior journalist and a former resident of Amira Kadal. Large crowds of fans were also seen when actors Rajindra Kumar, Shammi Kapoor, Sunil Dutt, Waheeda Rehman, Mehmood and Om Prakash visited the cinema hall on different occasions. Actor Ajit was on several occasions seen sipping local salt tea at the shop of Sultan Joo, a dealer in Kashmir Art. Dev Anand was another popular actor in the Valley. His Mahal in 1969 caused a traffic jam in the Regal Chowk and police had to can-charge people to clear the traffic. Raj Kapoor, Raj Kumar, Rajendra Kumar, Dharmehendra, Rajesh Khanna and, later, Amitabh Bacchan too were popular actors who had a large fan following in the Valley. So were actresses Madhubala, Nargis, Meena Kumari, Vyjantimala, Sadhna and Asha Parekh. Some ardent fans would go to any length to watch a particular movie. When Raj Kapoor’s much talked about Bobby was released in 1973 many Kashmiri film buffs travelled to Jammu, a 300 km road journey, to watch it there before it was screened in Srinagar.
Films had a deep impact on people. Young boys and girls would dress up like their favourite actors or imitate their mannerism. You had a Dilip Kumar or a Dev Anand or a Rajesh Khanna in every neighbourhood. During 1960s, the Sadhna haircut was very popular among girls. In some cases, the impact was of a different kind. Young Ghulam Nabi Hajam of Drugjan was so consumed by the tragedy afflicting Dilip Kumar in Devdas that he nearly turned mad, grew beard, stopped eating food and wandered on the Bund along the Jhelum for weeks. Ghulam Muhammad Bhat, a 1931 born from uptown Sonawar, was a film buff from a very young age. There was hardly any movie during those times that he missed to watch. So charmed was he by movies that despite being an illiterate, he fancied the idea of writing stories for films and, in fact, dictated one to his cousin. One day, in the midst of narration of a standoff between the hero and the villain he was at a loss for words to carry forward the wordy duel and took a long pause. Waiting for the next scene to jot down, his cousin observed that the silence was getting longer and asked Bhat what he should write next. Using his imaginative skills, Bhat quickly offered sound filler: “Zradga’un”. The story was titled Mohabbat ki Kahani (The Story of Love) and posted to a film company in Bombay but, sadly without any success. Nazir Ahmad, a college student, was so carried away by Feroz Khan, the black robed hero of a 1974 movie Khotay Sikkay, riding a white horse and galloping through the ravines and mountain valleys with a Kishore Kumar number, Jeevan mai tu darna nahi sar neecha kabi karna nahi, playing in the background, that after watching the movie he announced that the first thing he would do after securing a job “is to buy a white horse and ride to my office”!
Publicity of the upcoming and ongoing movies in itself was an entertainment. The Palladium Cinema had its own innovative style of doing it. At the stroke of 9.30 in the morning, two men holding a large hoarding with a poster of the film, followed by a band of pipers and a drummer would start from the cinema and march through the streets of Srinagar. Javed Azar recalls that so accurate was the timing of the Band that mothers would rush children to school at the first beat of the drum. Some youth carrying placards with images and names of actors of the movie beautifully calligraphed by painter Assadullah Wani, would also join the band as Mama Gasha’s bagpipe played tunes of popular movie songs. Amused children followed the band as it walked through the city and returned to the Palladium by the time the first show was about to start. At the ticket window, while police constables would fail to control the crowd, a hugely built Mohammad Ismail, staffer of the Palladium, would appear on the scene and feverishly use his cane or leather belt on the ticket seeking throng causing a commotion during which weak hearted and the ‘respectable’ would fall into the hands of ‘Blackers’ who illegally sold tickets on a high price. Each cinema hall had its own group of ‘Blackers’ who invariably worked under the oversight, if not with the blessings, of the cinema management and local police unit.
In later years, cinema owners would hire tongas to publicize new arrivals and show timings. A tonga with mounted colourful film hoardings and a drummer inside taking rounds of the city roads was a common sight in Srinagar during 1970s and 80s. Handbills were distributed to draw people’s attention to new releases and show timings. Newspaper columns were also used for the publicity of films. Many newspapers like the Aftab and the Srinagar Times published weekly film pages. Prominent journalist, Yusuf Jameel edited Aftab’s film page for several years, besides editing its Islamic page on Fridays. Film hoardings were also installed over shop fronts in busy markets and in lieu of that a shop owner was given a weekly free pass to the movie. From very early days of cinema in Kashmir, many Government officers and influential citizens would demand and get free passes. They included journalists. In 1936, the Cinema Reform Association asked the Government to issue orders that “no State employee should avail free passes at Cinema houses.” Certain elements would resort to blackmail to secure free cinema passes. On 4 November 1940, the weekly Desh accused the Palladium Cinema of ‘mismanagement, black marketing of tickets, misbehaviour of gate keepers with cinema-goers and overcrowding in the cinema’. Next week, the newspaper carried another piece lambasting the management for screening ‘third class and immoral movies’ and appealed the Government to take action against the cinema management. An explanation was sought from the cinema management and the Manager Kashmir Talkies Ltd. informed the Government that the allegations, made in the newspaper, were false and an attempt at coercion. He accused the Editor Desh of demanding free passes “which he had been availing for four months” and was insisting for more free passes “for his staff and relatives” which was not possible for the cinema management to do.
Many college and school going boys would often bunk classes to watch movies in nearby cinema halls. Head Master Ghulam Ali Shaheed Salmani would, in the middle of a film show, quietly enter the Broadway Cinema with a torch in his hand and catch hold of unsuspecting boys of his High School Badimagh and pull them out of the theatre. Master Niranjan Nath Wanchoo alias Nerre Kak of the adjacent Sanatan Dharam Pratap Sabha High School would do a similar act at the Palladium Cinema. On 11 May 1936, the Kashmir Students Union headed by Janki Nath Zutshi passed a resolution seeking concession in cinema tickets for students and appointment of a few poor students against some emolument for identification of bonafide students at the cinema halls. There was this section of people, mostly young men, unable to buy tickets, which was seen eves dropping at the closed doors of cinema halls enjoying the sound track of a movie. The State Government also held free film shows at public parks, schools and Panchayat Ghars for the entertainment and education of the people. A mobile film unit of the Information Department, equipped with a projector and screen, would go to different places in cities and villages to hold a film show carrying a social message. The movies screened during 1960s included Do Aankhein Barah Haath, Jagurti, Dosti, Do Bheegah Zameen, Mirza Ghalib, Kabuli Wala, Chaar Darvaish and Boot Polish. Newsreels on subjects of sanitation, small savings and elementary education were also screened for general awareness.
……to be continued
Khalid Bashir Ahmad is an author , poet and a former Kashmir Administrative Services (KAS) officer.
