From snowcapped mountains to a land scarred by conflict and calls for "azaadi" (freedom), Bollywood movies have shaped how the world sees Kashmir.

A powerful dialogue from Vishal Bhardwaj's acclaimed 2014 film "Haider" transcends the screen, capturing the human stories of Kashmir — a Himalayan territory where breathtaking beauty and rich culture belie a decades-long conflict between India and Pakistan.

"Are we here or not? If we are, where and if not, where have we gone? If we exist, for whom and when? Sir... were we ever there, or never at all?" the character Haider asks.

The dialogue also raises the question of how India's Hindi-language film industry, Bollywood, portrays Muslim-majority Kashmir.

"Haider" is Bhardwaj's adaptation of Shakespeare's "Hamlet," set against the backdrop of the Kashmir conflict in the mid-1990s. The movie offers a delicate portrayal of violence, enforced disappearances and the psychological toll of conflict.

In the decades following India's independence from colonial rule in 1947, Bollywood often depicted Kashmir as a romantic idyll: a valley nestled amid snowy mountains, vibrant tulip gardens and lush deodar and chinar trees.

In "Barsaat" (1949), Raj Kapoor uses Kashmir less as a political subject and more as a scenic backdrop for romance — an escape from the humdrum of urban life.

Later films such as "Kashmir........

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