Video Cassettes and Melancholy Music: Hindi Films in 1980s Shillong

This is a true story about a girl growing up in Shillong, a hill town in northeast India, in the 1980s.

Back then, new movies took a very long time to reach her town.

First, Hindi films came through the television, with a song show on Wednesdays and a film on Sundays.

Later, video shops with exciting names like Eureka and Electrovision began renting out VCR machines.

Because few families could afford one, neighbours would crowd into a dark room to watch three films in two days.

The girl and her friends loved Bollywood stars like Govinda, Sridevi, Shakti Kapoor and Kimi Katkar.

What she loved even more were sad Hindi film songs, which she replayed again and again on her cassette player.

Outsiders thought of Shillong as a town of rock and pop music, but her neighbourhood was full of Hindi film songs.

Later, the composer AR Rahman made Hindi film music cool once more.