Way back in the early 80's in the midst of the home video boom, every high street in Britain began sprouting "desi" Video shops catering to a burgeoning asian market. If there was anything the massive immigrant community missed collectively from back home, it was the glamour and the glitz of the desi silver screen. Now with the video explosion you could watch the latest Bollywood extravaganza in the comfort of your own living room just days after its cinema release back home.

It was during this time that the Tooting Video Centre was born on the high street of a south London community with its fair share of Asians. Billy, the jovial fellow who untiringly ran/runs the shop, night and day, had an enormous collection of films and would be the first to bring out the latest Bollywood releases.

THE MAN WITH THE PLAN - Billy of Tooting Video Centre and Famous Video

However what made Billy and TVC special and allowed them to survive the high street video shop bust of the 90's was their shrewd investment in Lollywood which has earned them not so much a niche but an impressive monopoly on virtually all licensed Lollywood product outside and even inside Pakistan. While people may well have mocked Billy for keeping faith with Lollywood by creating his own Video distribution label by the name of Famous Video which began specializing in Lollywood fare.

Now, at the turn of the century Billy's Famous Video holds video rights to the majority of Lollywood material all the way back from the days of Mhommad Ali and Zeba, Shamim Ara and Waheed Murad to the present times of Shaan, Saima and Reema.

Their prints are fabulous considering the quality of the original film stock from which their master video tape is made. Forget the quality, its not really an issue, think of the enormous service to Lollywood that Famous Video has done by preserving so many classic Lollywood titles which would have otherwise faded away into oblivion, never to be seen again. Famous Video has with their vast catalogue of Pakistani cinema - managed to create the single best archive/library of Pakistani anywhere in the world. An invaluable resource which would otherwise have been buried forever.

Lollywood fans the world over have Billy and Famous Video to thank for creating a virtual monument, a shrine to Lollywood's heritage - however imperfect they may be. It is due to the guys at Famous Video that we can still stroll down the local high street to the desi video shop and pick up classics like Haseena Atom Bomb, Disco Dancer, Society Girl, Maula Jat in London or in fact almost any Lollywood Gem you could possibly think of.

It is enterprising Asians like Billy and his team who with their sheer hard work and devotion manage to carve out a name and reputation for themselves in the West.

Bravo!