The new ‘K’ effect in India
TV series with K associated have a long-drawn history in India. The 1990s and early 2000s were dominated by TV series/daily soaps starting with ‘K’ in India. Indian families would come together in the evening to watch daily soaps and a lot of discussions revolved around “Kyuki Saas bhi Kabhi Bahu thi” or “Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki”. The producer, Ekta Kapoor instantly became a rage (and continues to be) for her daily soaps capturing the imagination of Indian families. While the age range comprised from late 20s to 50s, the teenagers were also exposed to these serials in some fashion. Fast forward 20 years and there is another K in town which is making Indian audience glued to their television and laptop screens even more. This new ‘K’ is Korean drama, and it is raging through the India audience like fire.
While daily soaps still continue to be part of the household, but the introduction of OTT (Over the Top) platform like Netflix has provided easy accessibility to other genres as well. However, amidst all the genres like thrillers, comedies, how has Korean drama picked up so quickly among the Indian audiences despite the language barrier. In fact, Netflix recorded a spike of 370% over the course of 2019–2020 and is continuing to rise as the years progress. The ‘K’ effect continues to soldier on in India though through an international route of Korean drama. So, what bring about this massive influence of Korean drama in India and also across the world.
1. Easy Accessibility: The era from 2010–2015 exposed a lot of teenagers and people in early 20s to Korean culture through Manhwa (Korean comic) and some dramas, but it was limited owing to accessibility issues. One had to navigate through Torrent to download anything related to Korean drama and it was not readily accessible. With the introduction of OTT platforms and special investment done by both Korean producers and Netflix, here is a separate section in Netflix for Korean dramas. This has allowed people to readily view Korean drama and, in the process, get addicted to watching it in India. People are always looking for a change beyond English and Hindi TV series and movies and Korean drama came as a blessing in disguise.
2. Famous popstars: We all have heard of PSY (Gangnam Style) and BTS. The famous music culture in Korea was a hidden treasure which started coming out in the 2010 era. That allowed people in India to drift away from Eminem’s and Rihanna’s of the world. It exposed them to a different breed of music which was not only fun, but super addictive. This allowed Korean dramas to establish trust in the Indian audience by paving way through the Korean popstar’s popularity. The simple thought behind Korean Dramas was: “If PSY and BTS can become a rage in India and the world, why not us”.
3. Global recognition: The 2020 Oscar win for Parasite catapulted Korea to global fame unlike any other movie. It inculcated a feeling among the audiences that Korea built intelligent cinema. This allowed Korea dramas to come to the forefront and cash in on the global recognition. If that was not enough, soon Netflix sensation Squid Games became the most watched television series in its history. The unique concept of Korean entertainment industry allowed the audience in India to explore other options beyond the usual action thrillers and movies. The increasing intellect among the Indian audience in urban and rurban areas allowed them to identify themselves with such deep and addictive shows allowing more and more Korean TV series and movies to come on the OTT platform.
4. Identification with emotions: Indian movies and TV series rely heavily on the emotion of the audiences for its success. Storyline is one part of the script, but any show that allows the audience in India to get moved emotionally is an instant hit. Korean drama is no different. It allows the audience to travel through different emotions in a series from anger to love to laughter. The synonymity of the Korean drama with emotional connect enables people in India to identify with it even more thus enhancing the ‘K’ effect.
5. Over dependency on subtitles: The language barrier was always a constraint when one was watching TV series from other countries where English is not the 1st language. Subtitles can make the process of understanding easy, but it was difficult to draw the correlation between what was being said and what was coming as a text in subtitles. Over the past few years, the audiences have become comfortable with subtitles even for English TV series and shows. In fact, it is weird for someone to watch a show or a movie without any subtitles/ the present generation of 20 year and 30-year-olds are heavily reliant on technology and the subtitles have become an integral part of the entertainment experience on TVs, laptops and phones. This has allowed easy integration of Korean drama into the Indian culture of watching shows. As people are running subtitles by default, they are able to correlate to what is being said and displayed in the subtitles. This has acted as major factor in the boost of Korean drama
I personally was not exposed to Korean drama till last year. With the introduction of Squid games and shows like Business proposals, I have become a fan of Korean drama which is lighthearted at time and very deep in intellect at the same time as Parasite. This addiction is not going to go away soon until another country comes up with a famous genre of its TV series like Korea has.
