Why Korean dramas will find an audience in India
Currently straddling between ultra-orthodox right wing Indian dramas on TV and uber western content on Online streaming platforms, Indian audiences are in dire need of content that connects with them emotionally as well as intellectually. Korean Dramas are just the right mix of tradition and technology, with the ability to weave magic on screen.
1. Shared Societal Norms and Belief Systems : Most Asian countries have similar socio-cultural belief systems. Respect your elders, pay attention to your education, get a good job, get married into a good family and impact of your past life in your current living conditions. Mothers nagging their unmarried daughters to go on ‘set up’ arranged marriage dates is something most Indian households have dealt with and relate to, not just the Koreans. Visiting temples on death anniversaries is something unheard of in the West, but very much a part and parcel of the Indian life too. Korean shows typically showcase a society not too different from ours and that helps in retaining people’s attentions. In this global world, I think today’s viewing audience is looking for a sense of belonging in the stories they view. Korean shows provide that to most Asian viewers.
2. Food : It is a major part of our cultures. Most Indian mothers ensure that their adult children who live away from them have enough stockpiles of food in their refrigerator to last a coronavirus pandemic. Something similar is shown in almost a dozen Korean dramas available online. When you return back home from your mother’s, you will get food containers to last you a month. If we cast aside the fact that the Korean cuisine depends heavily on pork and beef, we could draw a lot of parallels between the two cuisines. There are multiple side dishes of different colors and textures. Indian food also never relies heavily on a single dish. There will be a plethora of odd shapes, sizes, spice levels and textures to chose from. You customise your plate as per your taste , preference , spice level tolerance and appetite. For example : In the show My Love from a star : all the dishes that the lawyer friend gets from home easily reminded me of a North Indian Thali Restaurant giving you the freedom to customise your own thali
3. Family : is important. Period. Rarely would you come across a major story character without a family or a longing for one (in case his parents died for some reason). The whole saga of avenging your parents’ deaths is another Indian plot that Korean charachters also build upon. Hence parental approval for marriage is a must and no matter how long or drawn out the battle might be, most Korean partners understand the unreasonable nature of parents. Watch Something in the rain or One Spring Night. It could easily be remade into an Indian show and most of us would relate to the stubbornness of the parents.
4. Work : More importantly women thriving at workplace. I wish more Indian shows depicted and gave importance to the careers of women and the relationships forged at workplaces. The Indians active on online streaming platforms belong to the generation which has grown up focussing on their education and building their careers. It is a pity that there is hardly any Indian drama that depicts work relationships in a justifiable and honest manner. The only time offices make an appearance in an Indian TV show is when somebody finds the love of their lives in the next cubicle. While in the routine lives, most of us are forging platonic friendships or mentor- mentee relationships. This is depicted in an excellent manner in Romance is a bonus book or even Something in the Rain to a certain extent.
5. Love : The way love is depicted in Korean shows is in tune with the way romantic relationships are handled in Indian scenario. One doesn’t need to depend on nudity or explicit scenes to put the point across. Most of the times, it is implied that the characters slept together without the need to get into the nitty gritty of the love making. Of course times have changed since the days of using flowers as an euphemism for kissing actors, but compared to the west, Korean and Indian shows are on the tamer side. A lot of Indian families still enjoy watching an odd show or two together. Korean dramas can easily be watched without the slightest of hesitations, with parents of all ages. There will be kissing scenes but they would fall on the cute / romantic end of the spectrum instead of steamy / hot end
6. Childhood : A person’s childhood plays an important role in the kind of adult he/she turns out to be. This is a very Asian belief that places undue pressure on parents to raise perfect children. If an adult has trauma or anger issues, it has to do with something that went wrong with him as a child. Most Korean shows are bound to have childhood flashbacks or the show follows the person’s story from childhood into adulthood. For instance the kidnapping angle in ‘What’s wrong with secretary kim?’ Or the birth of twin brothers in Arthdal Chronicles. Asian cultures have a weird obsession with children. Every parent wants their children to get married so that they can produce more children. There will always be a child actor in most Korean dramas even if they are not related to the main characters by blood. Apart from adding to the cuteness factor, these child actors do take the story forward
7. Good looking fair people : Indians are racist, whether we admit it or not. We wake up every morning in a colonial hangover with an unnatural obsession with fair skin and perfectly straight black hair. Most Korean actors provide us with that perfection, along with great skin and teeth. Add some well fitting clothes and perfect makeup that gives you no-make-up-look goals, to that. No one has perfected skincare and makeup like the Koreans. Or shall I say nobody has perfected plastic surgery like the Koreans. Well that’s a topic for another medium article, some other time.
There will be several other parallels between the two cultures which provides Korean shows with the potential to take India by a storm. But currently they do provide a pleasant break from all the things going wrong in 2020. Here is hoping to more Korean content being made available in India.