The Super Cool Korean Movies and the Northeast Indians

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I have a confession to make. I am addicted to Korean movies. So are thousands in Mizoram, Manipur. Effectively essentially the whole of Northeast India. I have heard it is much more so in countries like Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, China, Taiwan, Philippines, and so on.

It has been some time now due to the fact I watched my 1st Korean movie - it was My Sassy Girl. (Incidentally, My Sassy Girl was the most well-liked and exportable Korean film in the history Korean film business according to Wikipedia. So common that it outsold The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter which ran at the very same time. It sold 4,852,845 tickets!) That was around two 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 Keep in mind, Joint Security Area, My Little Bride, A Dirty Carnival, You are my Sunshine, Silmido, etc to name but a couple of!

I am entirely entirely hooked!

When a friend first invited me to watch My Sassy Girl I was frankly not certain if I would appreciate it. But the spunky, do not-care-a-damn-tomboy heroine in that movie created me fall in love with Korean movies (and soaps even!). It is not particularly surprising to me that I fell in adore with Korean movies considering the reality that I love French movies. Korean movies have the very same treatment of their subjects like that of French movies. I regularly watch TV5 French movies and Arirang Tv whenever my cableguy permits me! Of course numerous genre of movies give you a various perspective on Korean movies. I feel comedy is where Korean movies are the preferred.

Now the Korean movies and soaps, as I have mentioned, are rather well known 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 certain I am a typical! In a much more critical note, the question is why...why do the northeasterners enjoy Korean movies?? Even right after decades of Hindustanization with Bollywood, Hindi lessons and Indian politics are we somewhat longing for Residence!

It is seriously excellent to see one of your own (read chinkies?) on the screen after so a number of decades of it getting filled by the Amitabhs and the Khans and the Roshans of Bollywood. Korean dramas are like a breath of fresh air following so a lot stale Bollywood movies which I seldom watch except for Ram Gopal Verma movies. The intricate plots of twists and turns and much more urbane emotions are what attracted me to Korean and French movies. Maybe, just may perhaps be, race does have a role here. Getting racially related, our habits and cultural nuances are so comparable! Their body language and facial expressions are so similar to our expressions. The rather alien Punjabi or Bihari nuances of Bollywood deters me from so many fine movies!

Korean movies are also technically superior to Bollywood movies and can even compete with Hollywood movies. Awards and recognition even in the Cannes Film Festival are becoming a yearly occurrence for the Korean film business. In truth 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 correct to remake the Japanese movie The Ring.

It is accurate that we, Northeasterners, adore every thing that is new to our culture in contrast to 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 may well be another reason for our current addiction with Korean movies. But somehow I doubt that it is a passing factor like teenage enjoy affair. It has got cultural affinity overtones written all over it. Bollywood will have to counter this onslaught of Korean movies with much more Chak De characters! It has already lost considerably audience to Korean film business.

A couple of weeks back whilst having a chit-chat about our lives in New Delhi - the awkward stares, the down perfect patronising calling of names and the abuses in workplaces - with a friend of mine he remarked,"Are we in the wrong country?". "Will you be pleased if you are treated like a guest in your own country?" asks one of the two Northeast characters in Chak De India. As for me it is bearable with the assist of movies like My Sassy Girl and the like from our kin Korean film market. Laugh your heart out and forget the troubles of this country until, of course, Chak De India has larger roles for Northeasterners!