88 Video's most popular rentals
Avengers 3: Infinity War: an American superhero film released in 2018 and based on the Marvel Comics story.
Sholay: a 1975 Indian action-adventure film. It follows the adventures of two criminals hired by police to catch a vagabond. The film was panned on release but is now considered a classic.
Lucifer: is a 2019 Malayalam-language action film. It dives into the gritty world of Kerala’s politics and has become one of the highest-grossing Malayalam films of all time.
Kunjummen Varghese is standing at the back of his shop. Shelves crammed full of DVDs tower above him. An old TV sits in one corner, while a fan whirrs in the silence.
Wearing a long-sleeved shirt and glasses, he flips through the ledgers that record who has rented what. Don’t bring a credit card, it is cash only. Rentals cost Dh10 for a night. And if you are a few days late? “If I fine, no one will come to the shop,” he says with a chuckle.
Video Centre 88 in Al Qusais is one of the last DVD rental shops left in Dubai. There were once five in the neighbourhood but now Varghese is the last man standing. At least 20,000 titles sit on his shelves - Hollywood classics, Tamil epics and Malayalam dramas - while on the walls and windows are sepia-tinted film posters of Bollywood stars past.
Varghese arrived in Dubai in 1972 from Kerala in search of a better life. A technician by trade, he worked for the UAE army from 1975 until 2000. In 1988, he opened the shop for an investment and then gradually took over the running. From six people employed then, only two remain today.
“In the 1980s it was a great business,” says Varghese, 73, who is married with two children. “Cinema was expensive so people came and borrowed.”
But times have changed. The internet brought downloads and streaming and people turned away from these small, independent shops. 88 Video speaks to an era of social cohesion and its survival underlines that, for some people, community still matters.
Video Centre 88 sits in the corner of a small square overlooking a park that was built in the 1980s. Families live in these low-rise apartments and on the ground floor are tiny cafes, bakeries, money exchanges and laundries. But the buildings now look old and weather beaten. External air-conditioning units cover the walls, while the futuristic metro stop suggests better places elsewhere.
We all knew each other then. People were friendlier. Today they don't have the time
It was not always this way. Before the advent of the big malls, the square came alive in the evenings and people queued to rent DVDs. Varghese remembers incessant phone calls about the latest release and streams of people coming through the doors on weekends. Archive photographs taken of the shop’s launch in 1988 show crowds of people waiting to get in and studying the posters in the windows.
“We all knew each other then,” he says. “People were friendlier. Today they don’t have the time.”
Footfall has fallen sharply and Varghese is hanging on. Five years ago, as many as 50 people visited every day but now it has fallen to about 15 on a good day. They include older residents more comfortable with their DVD players and people who cannot stream because of the prohibitive monthly costs of an internet connection. Hollywood titles, Bollywood epics and Malayalam films are among the most popular.
“There is no future here, this business is gone,” he says. “But what to do? I am old and cannot do any other business.”
The DVDs are still sourced from suppliers at Jebel Ali. But some have closed as the demand has waned and it can be hard to secure the latest releases. Long-term customers urge him not to close and he wants to continue. People even come from Jebel Ali and Sharjah to rent DVDs, especially older ones they cannot find on the internet. Mr Varghese can still cover the rent of about Dh40,000 but it is getting harder.
“Maybe tomorrow I will close,” he says. “But tomorrow is on God’s hand.”
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
The specs: 2019 Haval H6
Price, base: Dh69,900
Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 197hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 315Nm @ 2,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 7.0L / 100km
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
Nepotism is the name of the game
Salman Khan’s father, Salim Khan, is one of Bollywood’s most legendary screenwriters. Through his partnership with co-writer Javed Akhtar, Salim is credited with having paved the path for the Indian film industry’s blockbuster format in the 1970s. Something his son now rules the roost of. More importantly, the Salim-Javed duo also created the persona of the “angry young man” for Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan in the 1970s, reflecting the angst of the average Indian. In choosing to be the ordinary man’s “hero” as opposed to a thespian in new Bollywood, Salman Khan remains tightly linked to his father’s oeuvre. Thanks dad.
What is graphene?
Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged like honeycomb.
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were "playing about" with sticky tape and graphite - the material used as "lead" in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But as they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment had led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
At the time, many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable. But examined under a microscope, the material remained stable, and when tested was found to have incredible properties.
It is many times times stronger than steel, yet incredibly lightweight and flexible. It is electrically and thermally conductive but also transparent. The world's first 2D material, it is one million times thinner than the diameter of a single human hair.
But the 'sticky tape' method would not work on an industrial scale. Since then, scientists have been working on manufacturing graphene, to make use of its incredible properties.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. Their discovery meant physicists could study a new class of two-dimensional materials with unique properties.
Zayed Sustainability Prize
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Saturday
Borussia Dortmund v Eintracht Frankfurt (5.30pm kick-off UAE)
Bayer Leverkusen v Schalke (5.30pm)
Wolfsburg v Cologne (5.30pm)
Mainz v Arminia Bielefeld (5.30pm)
Augsburg v Hoffenheim (5.30pm)
RB Leipzig v Bayern Munich (8.30pm)
Borussia Monchengladbach v Freiburg (10.30pm)
Sunday
VfB Stuttgart v Werder Bremen (5.30pm)
Union Berlin v Hertha Berlin (8pm)
Asia Cup Qualifier
Venue: Kuala Lumpur
Result: Winners play at Asia Cup in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in September
Fixtures:
Wed Aug 29: Malaysia v Hong Kong, Nepal v Oman, UAE v Singapore
Thu Aug 30: UAE v Nepal, Hong Kong v Singapore, Malaysia v Oman
Sat Sep 1: UAE v Hong Kong, Oman v Singapore, Malaysia v Nepal
Sun Sep 2: Hong Kong v Oman, Malaysia v UAE, Nepal v Singapore
Tue Sep 4: Malaysia v Singapore, UAE v Oman, Nepal v Hong Kong
Thu Sep 6: Final
Asia Cup
Venue: Dubai and Abu Dhabi
Schedule: Sep 15-28
Teams: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, plus the winner of the Qualifier
Mina Cup winners
Under 12 – Minerva Academy
Under 14 – Unam Pumas
Under 16 – Fursan Hispania
Under 18 – Madenat
Bharat
Director: Ali Abbas Zafar
Starring: Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Sunil Grover
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
88 Video's most popular rentals
Avengers 3: Infinity War: an American superhero film released in 2018 and based on the Marvel Comics story.
Sholay: a 1975 Indian action-adventure film. It follows the adventures of two criminals hired by police to catch a vagabond. The film was panned on release but is now considered a classic.
Lucifer: is a 2019 Malayalam-language action film. It dives into the gritty world of Kerala’s politics and has become one of the highest-grossing Malayalam films of all time.