美国国家公共电台 NPR--After more than two decades, movie theaters reopen in Indian-controlled Kashmir

After more than two decades, movie theaters reopen in Indian-controlled Kashmir

Transcript¹

Forced shut during a 1990s insurgency², cinemas are reopening in Kashmir. A new generation will now get to see Bollywood idols³ on the big screen. Is it a political maneuver⁴, or a return to normalcy?

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

For the first time in two decades, movie theaters have reopened on the Indian side of Kashmir. That's a Himalayan region divided between India and Pakistan. Cinemas were forced shut there during a 1990s insurgency, and now the Indian government says it has restored calm. And reopening cinemas is one way to demonstrate that. But in Srinagar, going to the movies is very different from elsewhere in India. Raksha Kumar reports.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Excuse me, ma'am. Here's popcorn⁵.

RAKSHA KUMAR, BYLINE⁶: Young Kashmiris who've never set foot in a cinema grab buckets of popcorn...

(SOUNDBITE OF POPCORN POPPING)

KUMAR: ...Before they sit down to a newly released Hindi action film in a plush multiplex.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character, singing in non-English language).

KUMAR: The movie itself is the same as in other theaters across India. But the experience of actually walking up to the theater here is far from normal.

(SOUNDBITE OF CAR HONKING)

KUMAR: You go through a police barricade⁷ and an army barricade, and it has a small window through which a policeman with his gun can kind of peep out and see who's coming into the theater.

(SOUNDBITE OF CAR HONKING)

KUMAR: Security forces have good reason to be here because on the same day this multiplex reopened...

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Yet another terrorist attack, a joint⁸ party...

KUMAR: ...Militants¹⁰ launched an attack in a neighboring district. Kashmiri separatists have fought Indian security forces for more than 30 years now. Some of them want an independent territory; others want to become part of Pakistan next door. Someone who has lived through all of this is Vijay Dhar. He's 81. His family has owned movie theaters here since the 1960s, including Srinagar's famous Broadway Theater.

VIJAY DHAR: Broadway had the best sound in the country.

KUMAR: But in 1989, militants declared all cinemas un-Islamic, ordered them shut and attacked ones that stayed open.

DHAR: We had a bomb blast in the theater, and I think in 1993, they burnt it.

KUMAR: Kashmir used to have about 15 movie theaters. All of them had to close their doors. Some of them became malls, others became hospitals, but many of them are just heaps of bricks, a still sensitive reminder¹¹ of Islamist militant⁹ attacks.

(SOUNDBITE OF CALL TO PRAYER)

KUMAR: It looks like a very old, 30-, 40-year-old building, just the shells of which are left. There are two layers of barbed wire. There's one policeman who is standing¹² right close to the dilapidated building, and what they're guarding is Kashmir's first cinema theater, which used to be called Kashmir Talkies and later, the Palladium.

SANJAY KAK: I remember as a young boy, if you were sitting in the balcony and watching the film, you usually watched it through a pall¹³ of cigarette smoke.

KUMAR: Documentary filmmaker Sanjay Kak says Kashmir had one of the first theaters in all of India. So many Bollywood movies have been filmed here. But he wants the Indian government to prioritize other things first. Three years ago, it cancelled Kashmir's constitutional autonomy, flooded the streets with troops and cut off the internet. Since then, things have not returned to normal. So Kak sees the reopening of cinemas as a propaganda stunt¹⁴.

KAK: Opening a multiplex at a time when every other public space has been choked up, whether it's the media, whether it's campus life, all of that is shut down. Civil society is not able to operate. So what exactly is going on?

(SOUNDBITE OF BEEP)

KUMAR: (Inaudible).

(SOUNDBITE OF BEEPING)

KUMAR: Back at the multiplex, security guards are frisking everyone who comes in. Kulsoom Gulzar hasn't been to a theater in Kashmir since she was a child.

KULSOOM GULZAR: I used to go with my uncle there (speaking Urdu).

KUMAR: Now she's brought her 5-year-old niece, Ayra.

GULZAR: (Speaking Urdu).

KUMAR: Gulzar says she doesn't think it's against her religion to go to a theater, and she doesn't see it as a political stunt either. It's just entertainment, she says.

(SOUNDBITE OF UNIDENTIFIED FILM)

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character, non-English language spoken).

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As character, non-English language spoken).

KUMAR: Does it bother her to watch a violent action film after all the Kashmir has been through?

GULZAR: (Speaking Urdu).

KUMAR: She doesn't have much of a choice, she says, until cinemas open with more options.

For NPR News, I'm Raksha Kumar in Srinagar, Kashmir.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 insurgency   

n.起义；暴动；叛变

参考例句：

• And as in China, unrest and even insurgency are widespread. 而在中国，动乱甚至暴乱都普遍存在。 来自互联网
• Dr Zyphur is part an insurgency against this idea. 塞弗博士是这一观点逆流的一部分。 来自互联网

3 idols   

偶像( idol的名词复数 )； 受崇拜的人或物； 受到热爱和崇拜的人或物； 神像

参考例句：

• The genii will give evidence against those who have worshipped idols. 魔怪将提供证据来反对那些崇拜偶像的人。 来自英汉非文学 - 文明史
• Teenagers are very sequacious and they often emulate the behavior of their idols. 青少年非常盲从，经常模仿他们的偶像的行为。

4 maneuver   

n.策略[pl.]演习；v.(巧妙)控制；用策略

参考例句：

• All the fighters landed safely on the airport after the military maneuver.在军事演习后，所有战斗机都安全降落在机场上。
• I did get her attention with this maneuver.我用这个策略确实引起了她的注意。

5 popcorn   

n.爆米花

参考例句：

• I like to eat popcorn when I am watching TV play at home.当我在家观看电视剧时，喜欢吃爆米花。
• He still stood behind his cash register stuffing his mouth with popcorn.他仍站在收银机后，嘴里塞满了爆米花。

6 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

7 barricade   

n.路障，栅栏，障碍；vt.设路障挡住

参考例句：

• The soldiers make a barricade across the road.士兵在路上设路障。
• It is difficult to break through a steel barricade.冲破钢铁障碍很难。

8 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

9 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

10 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

11 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

12 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

13 pall   

v.覆盖，使平淡无味；n.柩衣，棺罩；棺材；帷幕

参考例句：

• Already the allure of meals in restaurants had begun to pall.饭店里的饭菜已经不像以前那样诱人。
• I find his books begin to pall on me after a while.我发觉他的书读过一阵子就开始对我失去吸引力。

14 stunt   

n.惊人表演，绝技，特技；vt.阻碍...发育，妨碍...生长

参考例句：

• Lack of the right food may stunt growth.缺乏适当的食物会阻碍发育。
• Right up there is where the big stunt is taking place.那边将会有惊人的表演。