I've a confession to make. I'm dependent on Korean movies. So might be thousands in Mizoram, Manipur. Well basically the complete of Northeast India. I've heard it's more so 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 was My Sassy Girl. (Incidentally, My Sassy Girl was the most used and exportable Korean film in the history Korean film industry according to Wikipedia. So popular so it outsold The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter which ran at the same time. Dramacool It sold 4,852,845 tickets!) That has been 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 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 name but a few!
I'm completely totally hooked!
When a friend first invited me to view My Sassy Girl I was frankly not sure if I would enjoy it. However the spunky, don't-care-a-damn-tomboy heroine in that movie made me fall in love with Korean movies (and soaps even!). It is not particularly surprising in my experience that I fell in love with Korean movies considering the fact I really like French movies. Korean movies have the same treatment of the subjects like that 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 believe comedy is where Korean movies are the best.
Now the Korean movies and soaps, as I've said, are highly popular in the Northeastern states of India. Even in New Delhi there is a video library or two where you can get Korean movies. You can be sure I'm a regular! In a much more serious note, the question is why... why do the northeasterners love Korean movies?? Despite decades of Hindustanization with Bollywood, Hindi lessons and Indian politics are we somewhat wanting for HOME!
It is excellent 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 such as for instance a breath of oxygen 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 far more urbane emotions are what attracted me to Korean and French movies. Maybe, just might be, race does have a role 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 will also be technically more advanced than Bollywood movies and may even compete with Hollywood movies. Awards and recognition even in the Cannes Film Festival are becoming an annually 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 proper to remake the Japanese movie The Ring.
It is true that individuals, 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 type of dressing jeans, T-shirts and et al. That may be another reason for our recent addiction with Korean movies. But somehow I doubt that it is a passing thing like teenage love affair. It has cultural affinity overtones written all over it. Bollywood will have to counter this onslaught of Korean movies with increased Chak De characters! It has recently lost much audience to Korean film industry.
Several weeks back whilst 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 wrong country?" ;."Can you be happy if you should be treated such as for instance a guest in your own country?" asks among the two Northeast characters in Chak De India. For me it's bearable with the help of movies like My Sassy Girl and the like from our kin Korean film industry. Laugh your heart out and forget the troubles with this country until, obviously, Chak De India has bigger roles for Northeasterners!
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