Kashmir best place to shoot Bollywood films, says Sanjay Khan

Srinagar: Yesteryear actor-director Sanjay Khan, who is on a private visit to Kashmir, feels that the state is the best place to shoot Bollywood films.

"This is the best place in the world for shooting for Bollywood. We cannot have a better scenic beauty for shooting than this. I have shot here for films all my life in the months of May and September," Khan told reporters. Khan along with his wife Zarine Khan and other members of the family, visited Shahr-e-Khaas (old city) yesterday and viewed an exhibition held at Lal Ded Memorial Cultural Centre at Ganpatyar on the banks of river Jhelum here. The Khan family accompanied Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who inaugurated the art exhibition. Acknowledging that tourists were "still afraid" of visiting downtown, the chief minister said the state government is trying to bring downtown on the map of tourism, culture and art. "We have brought here today those people who would not have imagined in their dreams about visiting downtown. We are trying to bring downtown on the map of tourism, culture and art," he said. Omar said the reputation of old city was damaged due to the two decade-long situation. "Tourism, till now, has been an uptown activity. Tourists go to Dalgate, Nishat and Shalimar. But tourists are still afraid of visiting downtown. Truth is, that due to turmoil, the reputation of old city got damaged," he said. The chief minister said the government is trying to woo tourists to visit downtown, so that the people of the area reap the benefits of tourism. "The people of downtown want to take part in tourism. They want tourists to come here, so that they reap the benefits of tourism. We have seen 13 lakh tourists visiting Kashmir, but the people of downtown did not get much of the benefit. Our endeavour is that tourists should come here and the people of downtown benefit from that," he said. PTI