Come September, cinema returns to Kashmir after 32 years of intermission

INOX to open a three-screen multiplex in Srinagar, its first

Every time Mohammad Yusuf Sheikh (55) passes through Khanyar in downtown Srinagar, he vividly recalls the hustle and bustle of the old city back in the relatively peaceful 1980s.

One of his abiding memories from the time is of Shiraz Cinema — which Khanyar was once famous for, along with handicraft — and crowds from districts in the Valley queuing up every weekend for a new Bollywood release.

Shiraz Cinema, shut for over three decades, has long been a shelter for armed forces. It is a shared fate for cinemas since 1990 when the insurgency erupted in Kashmir. But the