Kashmir, January 16, 2026:Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday visited the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT)–National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) Campus in Mumbai, where he held detailed interactions with professionals from the creative and film sectors. The visit focused on exploring opportunities to position Jammu & Kashmir as a leading destination for film tourism and creative industries.
During the interaction, the Chief Minister underscored Jammu & Kashmir’s vast potential, citing its breathtaking natural landscapes, rich cultural heritage, and deep-rooted storytelling traditions. He said these strengths make the region ideally suited for cinema, animation, visual effects, gaming, comics, and emerging immersive media technologies.
Emphasising youth empowerment, Omar Abdullah stressed the urgent need for structured skilling and upskilling of young people from Jammu & Kashmir, particularly in high-growth domains such as Animation, VFX, Gaming, Comics, and Extended Reality (XR). He noted that early exposure to industry-grade training, mentorship, and modern production tools would enable J&K’s youth to compete effectively at national and global platforms.
The Chief Minister also called for early and sustained collaboration with IICT–NFDC to design national-level training programmes, certification courses, and creative labs specifically tailored for talent from Jammu & Kashmir. Such initiatives, he said, would generate employment, strengthen the creative economy, and enhance the region’s attractiveness for film shoots, post-production work, and digital content creation.
Industry experts at the campus welcomed the initiative and shared insights on potential academic partnerships, exchange programmes, and on-ground training modules aimed at nurturing aspiring creators from Jammu & Kashmir.
The visit is seen as a significant step towards integrating Jammu & Kashmir into India’s rapidly expanding creative and media ecosystem, while aligning film tourism, cultural innovation, and youth development.
