Thursday 23 February 2023

The Super Cool Korean Movies and the Northeast Indians.

 I have a confession to make. I am dependent on Korean movies. So are thousands in Mizoram, Manipur. Well basically the complete of Northeast India. I have heard it is moreso 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 absolutely was My Sassy Girl. (Incidentally, My Sassy Girl was the most used and exportable Korean film in the history 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. By now I have watched scores of them - 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 mention but several!

I am completely totally hooked!

Each time a friend first invited me to view My Sassy Girl I was frankly uncertain if I would enjoy it. Nevertheless the spunky, don't-care-a-damn-tomboy heroine for the reason that movie made me fall in deep love with Korean movies (and soaps even!). It's not particularly surprising if you ask me 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 these 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 provide you with 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 have said, are extremely popular in the Northeastern states of India. Even in New Delhi there is a video library or two where you could get Korean movies. You can be sure I am a regular! In a more severe 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 longing for HOME!

It's great 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 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 far more urbane emotions are what attracted me to Korean and French movies. Maybe, just may be, race has a position here. Being racially similar, our habits and cultural nuances are so similar! Their body language and facial expressions are so similar to the 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 compete with Hollywood movies. Awards and recognition even yet 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 we, Northeasterners, love everything that's new to the culture unlike our mainland Indians. We actually welcome change and changed we are to an extent. We effortlessly copy the western style of dressing jeans, T-shirts and et al. That could 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 got cultural affinity overtones written around it. Bollywood will have to counter this onslaught of Korean movies with more Chak De characters! It has already lost much audience to Korean film industry.

A few 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 just like a guest is likely to country?" asks one of the two Northeast characters in Chak De India. For me it is bearable with assistance from movies like My Sassy Girl and such from our kin Korean film industry. Laugh your heart out and forget the troubles of this country until, of course, Chak De India has bigger roles for Northeasterners!

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