KARACHI: In 1980s Karachi, if you wanted to be the first to watch a new movie or TV or stage drama on video cassette, Rainbow Centre was the place to go.

But the bustling entertainment market, which thrived in the decades of VHS tapes, CDs and DVDs, where even celebrities and cricket stars came to attend launches of new releases or buy copies of their own content, has been all but killed by the internet and smartphones.

Today, cloth merchants, dry fruit sellers and food vendors line the alleys of Rainbow Centre, a quiet and unrecognizable shadow of its lustrous past.

At the end of a narrow corridor flanked by clothing shops, ‘Mehran Video Urgent Recording’ is one of the last few CD shops left in Rainbow Center, located in downtown Karachi’s Empress Market where it was set up in 1980.

“There was a time when people would flock to the shops here to buy whatever entertainment treasures they had to offer such as cultural programs, stage shows, and old Pakistan Television dramas,” Syed Ghulam Mohiuddin, the owner of the shop, told Arab News as he pushed a VHS tape into a dusty VCR.

“Now, in current times all these programs can be watched through the internet on mobile phones and YouTube.”

The only people who still showed up for business at the 10-15 remaining entertainment stores at Rainbow Centre were those who wanted to have old wedding or family videos turned into DVDs, the shop owner said.

“This is the last thing that remains here now,” Mohiuddin said as a shop keeper next door folded brightly coloured sports jerseys at his clothing store. 

Once upon a time, however, it was a different story.

When a new film or TV or stage drama came out, the celebrities themselves showed up to the market to promote, and sometimes even to obtain copies of, their content.

“The hero himself and the ones who had played a role in the story, all those characters would come here and feel happy seeing their film or drama being released,” Mohiuddin said.

Fazal Mehmood, the owner of an adjacent CD shop, recalled the long queues that formed in anticipation of new stage dramas, especially when legendary actors and comedians like Umar Sharif and Moin Akhtar visited the market. The stars of the stage would also make appearances for launches, adding to the excitement of customers.

“A lot of cricketers visited this place, former cricketers used to come here to buy these VCR cassettes,” the shop owner said.

But now times had changed, he said, and all he had left were memories - and no regrets.

“The past is always glorious. I've spent 40 years in this market,” Mehmood said. “So, the glory is always remembered. That is immortal in my memories.”