When Bollywood vanished from Manipur’s screens in 2000, something unexpected rushed in to fill the silence: Hallyu. Smuggled DVDs and late-night K-dramas soon began transforming a conflict-scarred state into one of India’s earliest gateways to Korean pop culture. What started as an unintended cultural workaround gradually reshaped everyday life in the Northeast, forging emotional affinities that the rest of India is only now beginning to understand.
On a humid July evening in Imphal, hundreds of young boys and girls flocked to the Manipur State Film Development Society. Not for a glimpse of a Bollywood star, nor to hear an American artist, but to cheer for their favourite performers at a K-pop contest. The hall trembled with the thunder of fan chants: “Kim Namjoon! Kim Seokjin! Min Yoongi! Jung Hoseok! Park Jimin! Kim Taehyung! Jeon Jugkook! BTS!”The crowd stood packed shoulder to shoulder, erupting into tidal screams of “Fighting! and Saranghae!” in flawless Korean.
It was the Manipur round of the 2019 Changwon K-pop contest, which selects top performers from various countries for the finals in Korea. Though only a local audition, hundreds of youngsters from across the Northeast queued for hours just to soak in the atmosphere, as electrifying as a full-blown K-pop concert.