CM Abdullah pushes J&K as attractive filmmaking spot, eyes tie-up with Mumbai institute

Mumbai, Jan 15 (PTI) The Jammu and Kashmir government is striving hard to make the scenic Union Territory an attractive destination for filmmaking, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said on Thursday.

To make J&K an attractive destination for filmmaking, there is a need to establish adequate infrastructure for which a relationship with an institution like Mumbai-based Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT) is very important, he said.

"We are trying to make films in Jammu and Kashmir again. We are trying to restore the film industry in J&K. And if we want Jammu and Kashmir to become an attractive destination for filmmaking, then human talent and post-production capability must be created locally, and that is where a relationship with an institution like IICT becomes important for us," Abdullah said.

The CM was talking to reporters during a visit to IICT.

Abdullah visited the IICT campus at the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC), Mumbai, to explore avenues for institutional collaboration and student exchange between the institute and the J&K government.

"IICT and NFDC are establishing a formal relationship so that our students come here and learn new ways of post-production, editing, sound, light, among others," he stated.

The CM hoped that in the future, the hub-and-spoke model that IICT had adopted, with the main campus in Mumbai and satellite centres in other places, would also be established in J&K too.

Notably, the hub-and-spoke model is an organization structure with a central hub and interconnected centres.

"It will be possible that one day IICT's satellite campus will be established in Jammu and Kashmir. Today, what we have seen that IICT has established a magnificent infrastructure here in a very short time. We would like to see human talent being made available there (in UT) that will help bring down the cost and also create jobs in J&K," Abdullah maintained.

As per IICT's website, the institute is India’s lighthouse for AVGC-XR (Animation, VFX, Gaming, Comics and Extended Reality). It has been established with the support of the Union Information & Broadcasting Ministry, the Maharashtra government and top industry bodies FICCI and CII.

As the national nodal organisation for AVGC-XR, IICT brings together academia, industry, technology and policy to nurture talent, drive innovation, and strengthen India's global competitiveness in creative technologies, said the institute. PTI SM RSY