Royal Enfield’s super popular street culture platform HunterHood took over Shillong this weekend, celebrating music, culture and raw creative energy in the city long known for its unmistakable cultural identity. Born from Royal Enfield’s community-first philosophy, HunterHood is inspired by the Hunter 350 – a motorcycle designed for the everyday rhythm of urban life. Agile, responsive and expressive by nature, the Hunter belongs to the streets it rides through. HunterHood takes that spirit off the saddle and into the city, creating a space where riders, skaters, artists, dancers and musicians and homegrown labels can move through the streets on their own terms. Each city where HunterHood visits writes its own version of the experience. Previous editions in Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai leaned heavily into the cultural codes of their host cities – from sound and movement to visual language and local communities – drawing thousands of motorcyclists, hustlers, creators, street culture enthusiasts in the process. Each stop looked different, sounded different and felt different, because HunterHood never arrives with a template.
Shillong brought its own energy to the conversation. Long regarded as one of India’s coolest cultural capitals, it is a city shaped by independent music, underground movements and a fierce sense of self-expression. Here, the streets weren’t dressed up for the festival; they simply carried on, louder and more alive than usual. BMX and skateboarding showcases saw performers push limits, while street football zones, slam dunk installations and interactive challenges celebrated movement in its rawest form. Custom motorcycles by JD Customs, recognised for their pared-back, performance-led builds, shared space with skate showcases curated by the Shillong Skate Mag community, a collective documenting the city’s growing skate culture. Visual interventions included live graffiti by the Mixed Media Art Crew and Art of Motorcycling 2024 winner Amit Kumar, while movement oscillated between tradition and present-day expression; indigenous dance forms led by the Shlem Institute of Music sat alongside hip-hop cyphers anchored by local dancer Iamon Kharjana.
In addition to this, works by Abhishek Choudhury, founder of the Gauhati Art Project and a central figure in the region’s contemporary art ecosystem, appeared alongside interactive installations by Sameer Hazari that showcased the streets of Shillong.