Mumbai, January 15, 2026 : Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday said the Union Territory is making concerted efforts to re-emerge as an attractive destination for filmmaking, stressing the need to build local talent and post-production infrastructure.
Speaking to reporters during his visit to the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT) in Mumbai, Abdullah said institutional partnerships would play a crucial role in reviving the film industry in Jammu and Kashmir.
“We are trying to make films in Jammu and Kashmir again. If J&K is to become an attractive filmmaking destination, we must develop human talent and post-production capabilities locally. That is where an institution like IICT becomes very important for us,” the chief minister said.
Abdullah visited the IICT campus at the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) to explore avenues for institutional collaboration, student exchange programmes and skill development initiatives between the institute and the J&K government.
He said discussions were underway to establish a formal relationship between IICT and NFDC that would allow students from Jammu and Kashmir to receive training in post-production disciplines such as editing, sound design, lighting and visual technologies.
“IICT and NFDC are working towards a framework through which our students can come here and learn new techniques and technologies used in modern filmmaking,” he said.
The chief minister also expressed hope that IICT’s hub-and-spoke model, with a central campus in Mumbai and satellite centres elsewhere, could eventually be extended to Jammu and Kashmir.
“It is possible that one day a satellite campus of IICT will be established in Jammu and Kashmir. IICT has created world-class infrastructure here in a very short time. We want similar human talent development in our region, which will reduce production costs and generate employment opportunities,” Abdullah said.
According to its official profile, IICT serves as India’s national lighthouse institution for AVGC-XR (Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, Comics and Extended Reality). The institute has been established with the support of the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the Government of Maharashtra, and leading industry bodies such as FICCI and CII.
As the national nodal organisation for AVGC-XR, IICT brings together academia, industry, technology and policy to nurture creative talent, foster innovation and enhance India’s global competitiveness in creative technologies.
