I've a confession to make. I am dependent on Korean movies. So are thousands in Mizoram, Manipur. Well basically the entire of Northeast India. I've heard it is moreso in countries like Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, China, Taiwan, Philippines, etc.
It's been some time now since I watched my first Korean movie - it had been My Sassy Girl. (Incidentally, My Sassy Girl was typically the most popular and exportable Korean film in the real history Korean film industry based on Wikipedia. So popular that it outsold The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter which ran at the same time. Dramacool It sold 4,852,845 tickets!) Which was around couple of years ago. By now I've watched scores of these - Windstruck, Sex is Zero (Korean version of American Pie?), My Wife is really 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 a couple of!
I am completely totally hooked!
When a friend first invited me to watch My Sassy Girl I was frankly not sure if I would enjoy it. However the spunky, don't-care-a-damn-tomboy heroine because movie made me fall in love with Korean movies (and soaps even!). It is not particularly surprising to me that I fell in love with Korean movies considering the truth that I really like French movies. Korean movies have the same treatment of these subjects like this of French movies. I regularly watch TV5 French movies and Arirang TV whenever my cableguy allows me! Obviously different genre of movies give you a different perspective on Korean movies. I do believe 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 are able to get Korean movies. You may be sure I am 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 looking for HOME!
It is really good to see one of your (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 may be, race does have a position here. Being racially similar, our habits and cultural nuances are very similar! Their body language and facial expressions are very similar to our expressions. The rather alien Punjabi or Bihari nuances of Bollywood deters me from so many good movies!
Korean movies are also technically more advanced than Bollywood movies and can even compete with Hollywood movies. Awards and recognition even yet 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) covered the right to remake the Japanese movie The Ring.
It is true that we, Northeasterners, love everything that's new to our culture unlike our mainland Indians. We actually welcome change and changed we're to an extent. We effortlessly copy the western style of dressing jeans, T-shirts and et al. That may be another reason for our recent addiction with Korean movies. But somehow I doubt it is a passing thing like teenage love affair. It offers cultural affinity overtones written throughout it. Bollywood must 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 buddy of mine he remarked,"Are we in the incorrect country?" ;."Are you going to be happy if you're treated such as for instance a guest in your country?" asks one of the two Northeast characters in Chak De India. For me it is 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 of the country until, of course, Chak De India has bigger roles for Northeasterners!
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