I've a confession to make. I am hooked on Korean movies. So might be thousands in Mizoram, Manipur. Well basically the whole of Northeast India. I've heard it's much more in countries like Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, China, Taiwan, Philippines, etc.
It has been some time now since I watched my first Korean movie - it absolutely was My Sassy Girl. (Incidentally, My Sassy Girl was the most popular and exportable Korean film in the annals Korean film industry based on Wikipedia. So popular that it outsold The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter which ran at the exact same time. Dramacool It sold 4,852,845 tickets!) Which was around couple of years ago. Right now I've watched scores of these - Windstruck, Sex is Zero (Korean version of American Pie?), My Wife is a Gangster 1, 2 & 3, The Classic, Daisy, A Moment to Remember, Joint Security Area, My Little Bride, A Dirty Carnival, You're my Sunshine, Silmido, etc to call but a couple of!
I am completely totally hooked!
Whenever a friend first invited me to view My Sassy Girl I was frankly uncertain if I'd enjoy it. However the spunky, don't-care-a-damn-tomboy heroine in that movie made me fall in deep love with Korean movies (and soaps even!). It's not particularly surprising in my experience that I fell in deep love with Korean movies considering the truth that I really like French movies. Korean movies have the exact same treatment of the subjects that way of French movies. I regularly watch TV5 French movies and Arirang TV whenever my cableguy allows me! Of course different genre of movies give 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 in New Delhi there's a movie library or two where you can get Korean movies. You may be sure I am a regular! In a more serious note, the question is why... why do the northeasterners love Korean movies?? Even after decades of Hindustanization with Bollywood, Hindi lessons and Indian politics are we somewhat longing for HOME!
It's excellent to see one of your personal (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 such as a breath of outdoors after so much stale Bollywood movies which I seldom watch with the exception of Ram Gopal Verma movies. The intricate plots of twists and turns and a whole lot more urbane emotions are what attracted me to Korean and French movies. Maybe, just may be, race has a function here. Being racially similar, our habits and cultural nuances are very similar! Their body 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 are also technically superior to Bollywood movies and may also contend with Hollywood movies. Awards and recognition even in the Cannes Film Festival are becoming an annually occurrence for the Korean film industry. In fact 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) paid for the right to remake the Japanese movie The Ring.
It's true that individuals, Northeasterners, love everything that's new to your culture unlike our mainland Indians. We actually welcome change and changed we are 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 passing thing like teenage love affair. It offers cultural affinity overtones written all over it. Bollywood will need to counter this onslaught of Korean movies with increased Chak De characters! It has recently lost much audience to Korean film industry.
A couple of 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 pal of mine he remarked,"Are we in the incorrect country?" ;."Do you want to be happy if you are treated such as a guest in your own country?" asks one of many two Northeast characters in Chak De India. In terms of me it's bearable with the aid of movies like My Sassy Girl and the like from our kin Korean film industry. Laugh your heart out and your investment troubles with this country until, of course, Chak De India has bigger roles for Northeasterners!
No comments:
Post a Comment