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Feature

Korea Comes to Manipur
How the ban on Hindi entertainment ushered in a new culture in Manipur
Published :1 October 2010
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Boys Over Flowers is one of the most popular Korean TV series in Manipur.
“B OYS OVER FLOWERS,” says a girl behind me, jerking me out of my daydream. I have been here for quite a while, trying to decide which DVDs to pick from the lot spread out in front of me. More voices join hers, resulting in a lot of giggling. I turn to see a teenage girl holding a DVD that has on the cover a pretty girl with a part-scowling, part-
scheming look on her face with four cute boys smiling in the background. Five more teenage girls—12th standard students at the Human Resource Development School—are standing around the one with the DVD and couldn’t be more amused. Between convulsive giggles, the 17-year-olds are flipping through the collection of pirated Korean DVDs at the Singjamei Supermarket in Imphal—films, dramas, serials and music albums. Boys Over Flowers is a popular Korean series about a beautiful girl’s tryst with the town’s four richest and most spoilt boys, known as the F4.

Ten years ago, teens in Manipur knew nothing about Korea beyond what they read in books and news. Who was to know Korean culture would eventually have such an impact in the Northeast Indian state? If you told someone then that teens in 2010 would be fawning over TV serials from Seoul, no one would have believed you. Yet here they are. How did this happen? The reasons can appear as unlikely as the results. But it began, in a sense, with a ban on Bollywood.

In September 2000, the Revolutionary People’s Front (RPF), one of the oldest armed secessionist groups in India’s Northeast periphery, banned Hindi films and Hindi satellite channels in the four districts that make up the Manipur valley. The ban, it said, would stop the ‘Indianisation’ of the state. Hindi films were declared obscene and said to portray feudal values typical of India’s Hindi-speaking heartland, and thus had the potential to undermine Manipuri values. An RPF spokesman went as far as threatening to bomb any cinema screening Hindi movies.

AKOIJAM SUNITA FOR THE CARAVAN

Customers checking the latest Korean serial DVDs at a busy store at the Singjamei Supermarket in Imphal.
The RPF leadership consisted of guerrillas trained in China at the peak of Beijing’s support for the Leftist insurgents in the Northeast the 1960s and 70s. They had already enforced a total ban on drugs, alcohol and pornography in Manipur. As part of the drugs ban, RPF cadres organised large-scale attacks, with some leading to killing and other punishments to many drug barons, dealers and users.

The success or failure of bans in Manipur was decided by the kind of fear and respect a particular organisation evoked. In 2001, when another armed opposition group, the KYKL (Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup), called for a ban on women wearing ‘mainland’ attire of saris, salwar-kameez, etc, they were defiant. However, the same group’s imposed dress code for schoolgirls in 2005 was successful. Even today, schoolgirls of eighth standard and up wear a version of the traditional phanek, the sarong-type dress local to Manipur.

After the Hindi movie ban in 2000, many cinemas were served notices by the State government for not screening Hindi films. On 31 October 2000, authorities in Imphal West had asked cinema owners to explain why their theatres were following the directive of a banned organisation. The authorities warned the owners that failure to respond to the notice would invite cancellation of their licences. Apparently, the then Manipur State Congress Party-led coalition government could not provide enough security to cinema owners to enable them to defy the diktat. Local cable operators were having an equally hard time. A rediff.com report of 16 October 2000 says, “Both the primary cable networks operating in Imphal [have been] shut down indefinitely by the RPF for violating its ban order on Hindi films and programmes. The Front seized equipment from the operators.” They had broadcast a Hindi film the previous day. According to the report, on 15 October, members of the paramilitary Assam Rifles had forced the cable networks to air Hindi films. “Assam Rifles and the Manipur State government officials have, however, denied the charge,” said the report.

Caught between the two forces, theatre-owners and cable operators in Manipur had no room to manoeuvre, and their lives were more valuable than the films they showed. They tried to salvage their businesses with re-runs of old Manipuri films, Hollywood films and some regional Indian—non-Hindi—films, but could not woo audiences back.

T HE BAN ON HINDI ENTERTAINMENT came as a hard reality to me. I had grown up watching with excitement Shammi Kapoor going ‘aa-ya ya suku suku’ on Doordarshan’s Sunday evening film programme. Being the unchallenged expert of Hindi antakshri, my visit home in 2001 was full of anxiety and disbelief— even speaking or singing in Hindi had become
a no-no.

I had left Manipur in the summer of 1995, and came home only for quick visits during summer vacations. In my last two years of school (1994-95) in Imphal, I had acquired a serious habit of skipping school to watch Hindi films in theatres. Looking back, all this adventure carries a completely new meaning. It was as if I knew the experience would be one I’d be deprived of later. I had no idea then that something as simple and routine as watching a Hindi film in a theatre would become the stuff of folklore I’d relay to my niece and nephew, complete with the ‘Once upon a time in Manipur... ’ lead-in. During my 2000 visit, I noticed Hindi music being played secretly at home and in other private spaces. Elders often cautioned to keep the volume very low. The general advice was not to play any Hindi music: some people who had been caught were punished. Hindi audio and videocassettes had been confiscated from shops and video parlours and burnt. I listened, not able to comprehend the abruptness of this new way of living. Upon speaking so much as one Hindi word in public, I’d look around to ensure no one heard it. The fear was real.

And so it was, in this entertainment vacuum following the Hindi ban and without a decent replacement, that something unexpected happened in Manipur: the Koreans moved in. In the early noughties, Arirang TV began beaming into many living rooms in the Valley. The Korean station was readily accepted as a refreshing change from the South Indian, Bhojpuri, Nepali and other regional Indian entertainment cable operators had been experimenting with until then. Arirang’s rise was almost like a fairytale. The channel made Korean culture a household aspiration. Then came KBS, broadcasting mostly serials from the South Korean peninsula. Korean entertainment slowly gained a stronghold in Manipur and started to influence mainstream culture.

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Readers' Comments

Total Comments 15

S Marak
21 January 2012
10:00 AM
hey, we sud not forget that if we were in china who would have known us as Mizos,Khasis, Garo, Naga, Manipuri. We all would have been called chinese or tibetan. But since we r in India we have our own identity.We should be thankful to India
 

RUPAK BANDYOPADHYAY
2 October 2011
12:57 PM
i am not specifically commenting on the article but will respond to frustrations of manipuries(meiteis0 FROM MY PERSONAL RXPERIENCES IN MANIPUR DURING 1971-1979.Meiteis are,to my opinion,the most COMPETENTcommunity in the north east,be it their health,,living style,standard of education,family values ,culture, music,dress,food and civility in the society.Iwill do a serious mistake if I donot mention ther extraordinary ability in sports,mechnical intuitive efficien, mathematical ability.However,the community is highly emotional and easily exploited by corrupt politicians.The worst part of the political system is reservation in govt jobs.Meiteis,excluding a small population near sekmai donot enjoy the benefits of reservaton in jobs and as a result,most of the jobs are cornered by various other communities living in manipuron the basis of their eligibility as ST,although meiteis are the largest commumity in tha state.Beside,meiteis are centralised in disticts sorrunded by various tribes and they are therefore under incessant threat of cut-off from mainland india by sorround-powers. sorroun-powersare all non meitei communities owing political emotional attachments to various national and international power politics.It is hightime that govt of india sincerely tries to understand the problems om meitei communitiy for a long term solution of manipur..
 

JuneHo
23 September 2011
11:23 PM
It is interesting to know that the people in East India look more or like Korean. People in Manipur , Nagaland and Arunachal Pradash, Anneyong haseyo!!
 

kongbrailatpam seungri
14 September 2011
04:43 PM
hi indian fellow we r proud to be mongoloid not as indian blackies@ravi **** u india east or west sing by urself not by government **** off we like korea coz our facial are same not like indian face like u ravi
 

SPY
16 July 2011
09:32 PM
Evn if we liv in india. . .we (manipuris n d nrth estrn part of india) ain't indians. . .indians r ugly bt we're nt. . . . .
 

Vimal
20 June 2011
03:56 PM
Well we can conclude that: Hindi films=piece of shit Korean films=works of art
 

Ravi
27 February 2011
09:29 AM
I agree with Mahi ''we should not forget that we live in INDIA not in south korea they r only taking advantage of absence of hindi movies and channels in North Eastern India'' thank you mahi for realizing it,even I became like those people. East or West India is the Best.
 

Mahi
17 December 2010
10:51 PM
Pranav, very well written.... I m really very much impresed wat u hv writen about our bollywood. I m also big fan of Hallyuwood but not at the cost of our BOLLYWOOD or Indian thing.Our bollywood is really doing great without our government support.I m not against of people who are watching korean drama or movies.But we should not forget that we live in INDIA not in south korea they r only taking advantage of absence of hindi movies and channels in North Eastern India.
 

setam
15 November 2010
10:29 AM
M a big fan of hallyu n also kim hyun joong He's acting is really good in playful kiss Hope he continues to do well anyway he's my no.1 favourite korean celebrity hwaiting!!!
 

nopur
15 November 2010
10:06 AM
i m a big fan of shinee n i hav already watch playful kiss . kim hyun joong is so cool n quite funny. its really.......... good :)
 

Hi5
31 October 2010
12:29 PM
M hoping to go to korea and meet the korean stars!hwaiting....
 

Reshmi
31 October 2010
12:25 PM
M ready to die for korean stars....!m waiting to watch playful kiss!
 

pranav
24 October 2010
09:12 AM
I am living in Korea for the last two years.The so-called Hallyu or Korean wave is mostly confined to Japan,China,Vietnam and to some extent other South East Asian countries.And this Hallyu is indirectly supported by Korean Government.To live in foreign country,people get a chance to interract with several foreign friends.I don't know whether people believe it or not,the craze of Bollywood movies and Indian curry is much more compared to others.One time we were in a group of foreign friends,europeans,south east of around 30 people.Among that 5-6 Koreans were also there. I was bit surprised they knew much more Bollywood and great fan Indian curry than Korean movies or Kimchi.When they were explaining these things,Koreans didn't have the answer of their own created Hallyu.I thought is this Indian waveor illyu. Regarding this article,I would say its nice one,but I just one question,is this a proper competition.Competition means arena is open to all.I am not saying Hindi,bollywood,etc should promoted,but the way foreign stuffs are promoted at the cost of national things,its not a good sign for the future of our nation. Without the government support,if Bollywood and Indian curry has penetrated in most of the nook and corner of the world,think about what if Indian Govt. also lends support to illyu as the Korean ones.
 

Sofia
18 October 2010
08:06 AM
well written! it really fascinates me how the Hallyu waves is coming to other Asian country :) oh, and i recommend to watch "My girlfriend is gumiho" and "Playfull kiss". enjoy!
 

Juhi
10 October 2010
07:46 PM
I absolutely had to comment, being a student of east Asian studies and korean, and a fan of hallyu. The article was well written and researched. Though I have just one thing I'd like to nitpick at. It's not anna saiyo. It's "anneyong haseyo". Cheers!
 
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