If you walk into Sifar Cafe in Anantnag, a district about 40 kilometres from Pahalgam in South Kashmir, there is a good chance you will spot someone shooting an Instagram reel. And more often than not, that person will be Tamil.
The walls of this small cafe are lined with posters of C Joseph Vijay, Tamil Nadu's newly elected Chief Minister. The staff here will cheerfully tell you what he ordered when he came to shoot for his film Leo. It was trout. Just trout. And somehow, that detail alone has been enough to bring hundreds of fans from across the country to this corner of Kashmir.
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How A Film Set Became A Spot
When the makers of Leo chose Sifar Cafe as a shooting location, nobody really thought much of it at the time. But fans, especially those who follow Vijay closely, took note. Once he became Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, that connection took on a whole new meaning for them.
Now, employees at the cafe find themselves retelling the same story over and over to curious visitors. Yes, he was here. Yes, he sat right there. Yes, he had the trout.
An Unlikely Bridge Between Two Places
Anantnag was once known as one of the most militancy-affected areas in Kashmir. That it is now pulling in tourists from Tamil Nadu because of a Kollywood film is something few people would have predicted even a few years ago.
But that is exactly what is happening. Vijay's presence, even if it was just for a film shoot, has made Sifar Cafe a place that Tamil visitors now want to see for themselves.