South Korean films inundate Manipur market

Talk about films in Manipur, and you are most likely to hear them drop names like Lee Min Ho, Ha Ji Won, Jang Nara, Kwon Sang Woo and Song Hae Kyo. For those in the dark, they are names of popular Korean stars. The markets in Manipur are flooded by South Korean films and soap operas of these stars. And the youth think it cool to ape these stars’ hairstyles, clothes or even pepper their language with Korean phrases.

Ironically, it was to safeguard the Manipur culture that had the separatist faction banning Bollywood films more than a decade ago. “The last Hindi film I saw was Kuch Kuch Hota Hai in a theatre. I remember sitting on my mother’s lap throughout the film,” giggles Dolly Sarungbam (22). Now she’s completely hooked on watching DVDs of Korean serials. “They have interesting stories — simple, believable and addictive. Hindi films are nice, but there’s no variation in the stories they tell.”

The rage for Korean films is not just restricted to Manipur though. It has spread to neighbouring states like Nagaland. Says Nyanthanglo Woch (23), “Although we don’t have the kind of restrictions that Manipur has in watching films, I like to watch Korean films too. Besides their serials being interesting, it’s easier to connect to them as their looks and culture are not too different from ours. Language is the only barrier, but  the subtitles help us tide through it.”

Siddharth Goenka, a film distributor in Assam, is not aware of the Korean film craze. “Manipur was once considered a rich territory for film business, it used to get 25-30% of the revenue. But the ban on Bollywood films by local governing bodies changed all that. A place like Imphal alone had 14 theatres, which today has been sold or converted into malls and churches. The last Hindi film that was screened in a theatre, I think, was Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and in English, it was Titanic,” he says.

The decline of a healthy film culture in Manipur is what worries another youngster. “Forget Bollywood, Hollywood films too have disappeared from our screens. If every film is banned out here, the future is bleak,” says a college girl who didn’t want to be named. “It’ll be so boring na.”