The Korean wave takes over India with OTT platforms cashing in on viewership surge, rise of fan clubs, and even stars bingeing on K-dramas
A still from Squid Game
What would compel an entertainment journalist with over 23 years of experience switch interests from covering Bollywood to South Korean dramas? In 2016, Puja Talwar, executive editor, Good Times, “crash landed” on K-dramas when she was laid up in bed with a broken foot. “I was hooked,” says Talwar, who was so consumed by the K-world that she decided to go beyond Annyeonghaseyo (Hello) and Sarang-hamnida (I love you), and pick up the language. Set to give her next exam in the language, she says, “It’s not easy to learn this language. In class, I was a 50-year-old among a sea of 20-year-olds who were learning the language to understand the Korean lyrics of their beloved K-Pop stars and curious minds who wanted to understand the nitty-gritty of their favourite dramas. It was no longer about learning a new language for better prospects.” Talwar is no stranger to Hallyu aka the Korean wave. In 2016, there were only a handful of people interested in K-dramas. It was popular in the northeast and Bangladesh. I remember requesting Netflix to get me in touch with Korean stars for interviews and to add K-dramas to their database, but they were still contemplating about the viewership numbers in India,” she recounts. That was then. Cut to 2022, and Hallyu has taken India by storm.
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Numbers don't lie
Sourcing and creating content from all over the world, Netflix insists that they began scavenging for Korean content and content creators in 2016. “We knew we wanted to tell stories that had never been told before. One of our favourite questions to ask any creator is, ‘What’s the story you’ve always wanted to tell, but have never been able to?’ This simple question was how Netflix discovered its first Korean original, zombie thriller, writer Kim Eun-Hee’s Kingdom [2019],” informs the Netflix spokesperson. Since then, the streaming giant has launched “hundreds of titles” ranging from a young adult scripted series created by a first-time writer Jin Han-sae in Extracurricular to the bold, out-of-this-world Space Sweepers to the recently released Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area, an adaptation of the popular Spanish series La Casa De Papel. The platform now has Korean shows in more than 30 languages, including English, German, French, Swedish, Hindi, Portuguese, Bahasa Indonesia, and more. As per data, the viewing of K-dramas on Netflix in India increased by more than 370 per cent in 2020 over 2019. The icing on the cake was when Squid Games, which initially had found no takers, made history by becoming the first non-English show to be nominated for the Best Drama at the 2022 Emmy Awards. Reportedly, 95 per cent of Squid Game’s viewership came from outside Korea. So, what makes K-dramas so appealing in India? The common belief is that their culture resonates with the Indian value system. “The emotions of laughter, joy, grief, and pain — we all feel them, irrespective of where we live. That’s why an authentically told Korean story will resonate with viewers in India,” explains the Netflix spokesperson.
Squid Game made history by becoming the first non-English show to be nominated for the Best Drama Series at the 2022 Emmy Awards.
Riding on the Hallyu, several other platforms – Disney+ Hotstar, Amazon Prime Video, ZEE5, MXPlayer, among others -- began acquiring Korean content. MXPlayer opened the doors to Korean content in September 2019. “There has always been a loyal audience for Korean content. Our audience for Korean content has grown five times in the past 18 months. At the start of the lockdown, the overall international content consumed on the platform was just five per cent whereas now it has grown to 25-30 per cent. While the core user base [of viewers] is based in the Metro and Tier 1 cities, we have seen that the appeal of such shows has spread across India. Smaller towns in far-flung places have also shown a large appetite for Korean dubbed shows,” informs Mansi Shrivastav, senior vice president, Content Acquisitions, Alliances and Distribution. The platform now streams over 100 shows in Hindi, Telugu, and Tamil that range from romance, medical procedural, corporate conspiracies, family drama, fantasy, adventure, and sci-fi, shows. “Our Story, Day Dreamer, Love is in the Air, The Promise, Goblin, Pinnochio, Dr Romantic, Heirs, Penthouse are some popular ones [on the platform],” adds Shrivastav.
Scherezade Shroff, Sherry’s K-Drama Club founder
K-fandom
The pandemic gave birth to Sherry’s K-Drama Club, a popular Indian Facebook page managed by digital creator Scherezade Shroff, who chanced upon Crash Landing on You (2019) in May 2020. Little had she imagined that a stray Instagram post about the show would birth a community that now boasts of 13.4k members. “Every time I posted something [about the shows], my DMs would be flooded. I thought we should have a special community where people can converse about K-dramas, share their thoughts and reviews without judgment,” says Shroff, who also hosts chat rooms on Clubhouse for fellow enthusiasts. “We’ve kept things virtual mostly, but there have been instances when 10-15 people caught up [in person]. We have also done mega-long Zoom calls,” she laughs.
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Stars are not immune to the charm of Korean content, either. Popular south actor Priyamani reveals she got hooked on them after watching The Bride of Habaek (2017). “There was no stopping after that. The beauty of K-dramas is they make you believe that such characters actually exist. The stars’ comic timing is perfect. Their culture is similar to ours, especially how they address their parents. That is what drew me,” says the actor.
Dialing up the frenzy
Several entertainment portals in India began reporting about Korean soaps and stars. In 2021, Pinkvilla had the first-mover advantage when they introduced HallyuTalk awards, based entirely on fan voting. “We conceptualised the awards to create a unifying platform for zealous Korean entertainment lovers. We got more than 4.5 lakh votes across the 13 different voting categories,” says COO Mukul Kumar Sharma.
The Future of Hallyu
There once was a wave when viewers couldn’t stop singing the praise of Pakistani daily soaps, followed by content from Turkish lands. While the interest soon fizzled out, streaming platforms believe that the Korean wave is only going to increase in India. “The curve is already moving upwards, and it’s going to further rise considering the Indian industries are already doing remakes of foreign dramas and films. The steady development of content especially in the local languages will continue this popularity and there is great scope to push the envelope even further, reaching the deeper markets of the country,” concludes Shrivastav. Guess it's not time to say Annyeong (Goodbye) just yet.
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