Once upon a time,
Kashmir used to be the hub of Indian film shootings. But decades of political mobilization,
insurgency and counter insurgency seriously dampened the creative spirit.

And
now, the ban on flying drones to take pictures of the picturesque Valley has
rendered the possibility of good shoots redundant, and has left many drone
operators unemployed.

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The ban on flying
drones in Jammu and Kashmir was triggered by the drone attack at the Air Force Force’s
technical airport in Jammu on June 27. The government, in order to stave off future
attacks, imposed strict curbs on flying drones in the Valley as well as in the rest
of the country.

36-year-old film
line producer Shah Faisal Khan was heartbroken. After a year of pandemic-induced
curbs, he was expecting work to pick up this year. But the drone strike has
seriously impacted his business which relies heavily on using technology to
capture images of Kashmir’s beautiful terrain.

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“Our work has been severely hit since the news about
the ban on the use of drones in Kashmir came out. Earlier, we used to get ten
shoots at a time and now it has come down to four,” Indiatimes.com reported
Khan as saying.

According to Khan, the government should take down
information of drones, give proper authorisation but still allow drones to fly
instead of imposing a blanket ban.

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“I had two shoots lined up and they
needed drone shots. I am not sure if that will be done or not. I also have
Royal Enfield motorcycle shoot and they too need aerial shots. Now, the makers
say they will climb the trees to capture those shots. Also, a 12-day shoot is
coming up from 18th July, I don’t know what I should tell them,” he said.

Another concern among
those dependent on the film-making economy of the Valley is that once filmmakers
start moving to Manali or Shimla for their shoots, a revenue-generating
machinery might go away from Kashmir.