I have a confession to make. I am addicted to Korean movies. So are thousands in Mizoram, Manipur. Well, basically all of northeast India. I have heard that it is more so in countries like Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, China, Taiwan, Philippines, etc.

It’s been a while since I saw my first Korean movie: it was My Sassy Girl. (By the way, My Sassy Girl was the most popular and exportable Korean movie in the history of the Korean film industry according to Wikipedia. So popular that it outsold The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, which were released at the same time.) It sold 4,852,845 tickets!) That was about two years ago. By now I’ve seen dozens of them: Windstruck, Sex is Zero (the 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 are my Sunshine, Silmido, etc. to name just a few!

I am completely totally hooked!

When a friend first invited me to see My Sassy Girl, frankly, I wasn’t sure I’d enjoy it. But the brave heroine I don’t give a fuck about in that movie made me fall in love with Korean movies (and even soap operas!). It doesn’t particularly surprise me that I fell in love with Korean movies considering the fact that I love French movies. Korean movies have the same treatment of their themes as French movies. I regularly watch French movies on TV5 and Arirang TV whenever my cableboy lets me. Of course, different movie genres give you a different perspective on Korean movies. I think comedy is where Korean movies are the best.

Now, Korean movies and soap operas, as I said, are very 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 that I am a regular! On a more serious note, the question is why… why do Northeasterners love Korean movies? Even after decades of Hindustanization with Bollywood, Hindi lessons, and Indian politics, we long for HOME a little!

It’s really good to see one of your own (read chinkies?) on screen after so many decades of being occupied by the Amitabhs and the Khans and the Roshans of Bollywood. Korean dramas are like a breath of fresh air after so many stale Bollywood movies that I rarely watch except Ram Gopal Verma movies. The intricate plots of twists and turns and much more urban thrills are what attracted me to Korean and French movies. Perhaps, it can only be, race plays a role here. Being racially similar, our cultural habits and nuances are so similar! Their body language and facial expressions are very similar to ours. The rather strange Punjabi or Bihari undertones of Bollywood put me off so many good movies!

Korean movies are also technically superior to Bollywood movies and can even compete with Hollywood movies. Awards and accolades, including at the Cannes Film Festival, are becoming an annual thing for the Korean film industry. In fact, Hollywood greats Dreamworks have 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 film The Ring.

It is true that we Northeasterners love everything that is new in our culture, unlike our mainland Indians. In fact, we welcome change and we do change to some degree. We effortlessly copy the western style of wearing jeans, t-shirts and et al. That may be another reason for our recent addiction to Korean movies. But somehow I doubt it’s going to be a passing thing like a teenage love story. It has undertones of cultural affinity written all over it. Bollywood will have to counter this rush of Korean movies with more Chak De characters! It has already lost a lot of audience to the Korean film industry.

A couple of weeks ago, while discussing our lives in New Delhi (the awkward stares, condescending name-calling, and workplace abuse) with a friend of mine, he commented, “Are we in the wrong country??” “Will you be happy 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 help of movies like My Sassy Girl and the like from our Korean film industry. Laugh out loud and forget about the problems of this country until, of course, Chak De India has bigger roles for the people of the northeast!