I've a confession to make. I'm addicted to Korean movies. So are thousands in Mizoram, Manipur. Well basically the entire of Northeast India. I've heard it's way more in countries like Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, China, Taiwan, Philippines, etc.
It has been a while now since I watched my first Korean movie - it was My Sassy Girl. (Incidentally, My Sassy Girl was the most used and exportable Korean film in the annals Korean film industry according to Wikipedia. So popular so it outsold The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter which ran at the exact same time. Dramacool It sold 4,852,845 tickets!) That was around 2 yrs ago. Right now I've watched scores of them - Windstruck, Sex is Zero (Korean version of American Pie?), My Wife is just a Gangster 1, 2 & 3, The Classic, Daisy, A Moment to Remember, Joint Security Area, My Little Bride, A Dirty Carnival, You are my Sunshine, Silmido, etc to call but several!
I'm completely totally hooked!
Whenever a friend first invited me to view My Sassy Girl I was frankly uncertain if I would enjoy it. However the spunky, don't-care-a-damn-tomboy heroine for the reason that movie made me fall deeply in love with Korean movies (and soaps even!). It is not particularly surprising if you ask me that I fell deeply in love with Korean movies considering the fact I really like French movies. Korean movies have the exact same treatment of their subjects like this of French movies. I regularly watch TV5 French movies and Arirang TV whenever my cableguy allows me! Needless to say different genre of movies offer you a different perspective on Korean movies. I think comedy is where Korean movies would be the best.
Now the Korean movies and soaps, as I've said, are popular in the Northeastern states of India. Even yet in New Delhi there is a movie library or two where you can get Korean movies. You may be sure I'm a regular! In a more serious note, the question is why... why do the northeasterners love Korean movies?? Even with decades of Hindustanization with Bollywood, Hindi lessons and Indian politics are we somewhat wanting for HOME!
It is great to see one of your own (read chinkies?) on the screen after so many decades of it being filled by the Amitabhs and the Khans and the Roshans of Bollywood. Korean dramas are just like a breath of fresh air after so much stale Bollywood movies which I seldom watch except for Ram Gopal Verma movies. The intricate plots of twists and turns and a great deal more urbane emotions are what attracted me to Korean and French movies. Maybe, just might be, race comes with a part here. Being racially similar, our habits and cultural nuances are very similar! Their gestures and facial expressions are very similar to your expressions. The rather alien Punjabi or Bihari nuances of Bollywood deters me from so many good movies!
Korean movies may also be technically better than Bollywood movies and may also contend with Hollywood movies. Awards and recognition even yet in the Cannes Film Festival are becoming a yearly occurrence for the Korean film industry. Actually Hollywood biggies Dreamworks has paid $2 million (US) for a remake of the 2003 suspense thriller Janghwa, Hongryeon (A Tale of Two Sisters) compare that to $1 million (US) taken care of the best to remake the Japanese movie The Ring.
It is true that people, Northeasterners, love everything that is new to your culture unlike our mainland Indians. We actually welcome change and changed we're to an extent. We effortlessly copy the western design of dressing jeans, T-shirts and et al. That could be another reason for the recent addiction with Korean movies. But somehow I doubt it is a driving thing like teenage love affair. It has got cultural affinity overtones written around it. Bollywood must counter this onslaught of Korean movies with increased Chak De characters! It has lost much audience to Korean film industry.
Several weeks back while having a chit-chat about our lives in New Delhi - the awkward stares, the down right patronising calling of names and the abuses in workplaces - with a friend of mine he remarked,"Are we in the incorrect country?" ;."Will you be happy if you should be treated just like a guest in your country?" asks among the two Northeast characters in Chak De India. As for me it's bearable with the aid of movies like My Sassy Girl and such from our kin Korean film industry. Laugh your heart out and forget the troubles of the country until, obviously, Chak De India has bigger roles for Northeasterners!
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