research papers on k drama in india

Korean Dramas and Indian Youngsters: Viewership, Aspirations and Consumerism

• First Online: 29 June 2022

Cite this chapter

• Amritha Soman 3 &
• Ruchi Kher Jaggi 3  

723 Accesses

Korean popular culture has amassed immense popularity among young Indian audiences over the past few years. This chapter explores the effect of Korean dramas on Indian youth by understanding their viewing behaviour and its effect on their aspirations and consumption practices. Drawing on semi-structured in-depth interviews, the study looks at the transnational cultural flow of Korean dramas and what about these dramas drew 15 research participants to them as they negotiated the different layers of hybridity and transculturation. The participants of the study provided several interesting insights about their viewing experiences and how those extended to the Indian cultural context. These included ease of binge-watching, and plurality of genres. The need to extend the experiencing of Korean culture beyond just watching the dramas was found to be a crucial element in the decision to purchase Korean products. Additionally, the participants’ aspiration to visit the locations shown in the dramas was also discussed in the interviews. This study is a discursive construction of young Indian viewers’ engagement with Korean pop culture and how they negotiate their positions as transcultural audiences who vacillate between their identities as fans and consumers.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

• Available as EPUB and PDF
• Read on any device
• Instant download
• Own it forever
• Compact, lightweight edition
• Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
• Free shipping worldwide - see info
• Durable hardcover edition

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Adoni, H. and S. Mane. 1984. ‘Media and the Social Construction of Reality: Toward an Integration of Theory and Research.’ Communication Research 11 (3): 323–340.

Article   Google Scholar  

Arshad, Z., S.H. Raza, and Iftikhar, M. 2017. Impact of Web-Based Korean Content on Brand Selection . https://doi.org/10.5176/2301-3710_JMComm17.10

Bowman, J. 2011. ‘October. Riding the Korean Wave—Cultural Influence and Brand Strategy.’ Retrieved on February 15, 2019 from https://www.warc.com/content/paywall/article/warc-exclusive/riding_the_korean_wave_cultural_influence_and_brand_strategy/95365

Cayla, J., and G.M. Eckhardt. 2008. ‘Asian Brands and the Shaping of a Transnational Imagined Community.’ Journal of Consumer Research 35 (2): 216–230.

Creighton, M. 2009. ‘Japanese Surfing the Korean Wave: Drama Tourism, Nationalism, and Gender via Ethnic Eroticisms.’ Southeast Review of Asian Studies 31: 10–38.

Google Scholar  

Dal Yong, J. 2018. ‘An Analysis of the Korean Wave as Transnational Popular Culture: North American Youth Engage through Social Media as TV Becomes Obsolete.’ International Journal of Communication 12: 404–422.

Gergen, K.J. 1985. ‘Social Constructionist Inquiry: Context and Implications.’ In The Social Construction of the Person . 3–18. New York, NY: Springer.

Chapter   Google Scholar  

Glenn, E.N. 2008. ‘Yearning for Lightness: Transnational Circuits in the Marketing and Consumption of Skin Lighteners.’  Gender and Society  22 (3): 281–302.

Giddens, A. 1984.  The Constitution of Society: Outline of the Theory of Structuration . Univ of California Press.

Giddens, A. 1991. Modernity and self-identity: Self and society in the late modern age . Stanford university press.

Hindman, H., and R. Oppenheim. 2014. ‘Lines of Labor and Desire: “Korean Quality” in Contemporary Kathmandu.’ Anthropological Quarterly 87 (2): 465–495.

Hogarth, H. 2013. ‘The Korean Wave: An Asian Reaction to Western-Dominated Globalization.’ Perspectives on Global Development and Technology 12 (1): 135–151.

Jenkins, H. 1992. Textual Poachers: television fans and participatory culture . New York: Routledge.

Jenkins, H. 2012.  Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture . Routledge.

Jenkins, H., C. Cohen, J. Kahne, B. Bowyaer, E. Middaugh, and Rogowski, J. 2012. ‘Participatory politics: New media and youth political action.’ Retrieved on March 4, 2019 from HenryJenkins. http://henryjenkins.org/2012/07/participatory_politics_new_med.htm

Kaisii, A. 2017. ‘Globalization, Hybridization and Cultural Invasion: Korean Wave in India’s North East.’ Asian Communication Research 14 (1): 10–35.

Kim, S. 2010. ‘Extraordinary Experience: Re-enacting and Photographing at Screen-Tourism Locations.’ Tourism and Hospitality Planning and Development 7 (1): 59–75.

Lee, S.J. 2012. From Fandom to Tourism: An Examination of Self-~ Expansion Theory . UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones.

Lee, S., and H. Ju. 2010. ‘Korean Television Dramas in Japan.’  Asian Women  26 (2): 77–105.

Metaveevinij, V. 2008. ‘Key Success Factors of Korean TV Industry Structure that Leads to the Popularity of Korean TV Dramas in a Global Market.’  International Journal of East Asian Studies  12 (2): 99–139.

Miller, R.K., and K.D. Washington. 2007. The 2007 Travel and Tourism Market Research Handbook. Loganville, GA: Richard K. Miller and Associates.

Naidu, S. 2015. A Quantitative Study on the Impact of the Korean Dramas among Youth in Chennai. Dissertation.

Noh, S. 2010. ‘Unveiling the Korean wave in the Middle East.’ Hallyu: Influence of Korean Culture in Asia and Beyond 29 (3): 331–367.

Rajadhyaksha, Ashish. 2009. Indian Cinema in the Time of Celluloid: From Bollywood to the Emergency. Indiana University Press.

Reimeingam, M. 2014. ‘Korean Wave and Korean Media Consumption in Manipur.’  Journal of North East India Studies  4 (2): 15–30.

Schulze, M. 2013. ‘Korea vs. K-dramaland: The Culturalization of K-dramas by International Fans.’ Acta Koreana 16, no. 2: 367.

Seregina, A., and J.W. Schouten. 2016. ‘Resolving Identity Ambiguity Through Transcending Fandom.’  Consumption Markets and Culture  20 (2): 107–130.

Soliha, I., and R. Briandana. 2016. ‘Audience Interpretation on Korean TV Drama Series in Jakarta . ’ Jurnal Komunikasi Borneo 4 (1): 45–55.

Stevens, C.S. 2010. ‘You are What you Buy: Postmodern Consumption and Fandom of Japanese Popular Culture.’  Japanese Studies  30 (2): 199–214.

Warde, A. 1994. ‘Consumption, Identity-Formation and Uncertainty.’  Sociology  28 (4): 877–898.

Webster, J.G. 1998. ‘The Audience.’  Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media  42 (2): 190–207.

Download references

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, Symbiosis International University, Pune, India

Amritha Soman & Ruchi Kher Jaggi

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and affiliations.

International Research Center, SIMEC Institute of Technology, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Ratan Kumar Roy

Centre for Culture, Media and Governance, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, Delhi, India

Biswajit Das

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

About this chapter

Soman, A., Jaggi, R.K. (2022). Korean Dramas and Indian Youngsters: Viewership, Aspirations and Consumerism. In: Roy, R.K., Das, B. (eds) Korean Wave in South Asia. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8710-5_8

Download citation

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8710-5_8

Published : 29 June 2022

Publisher Name : Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore

Print ISBN : 978-981-16-8709-9

Online ISBN : 978-981-16-8710-5

eBook Packages : Business and Management Business and Management (R0)

Share this chapter

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Publish with us

Policies and ethics

• Find a journal
• Track your research

Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to  upgrade your browser .

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

• We're Hiring!
• Help Center

A Quantitative Study on the Impact of the Korean Dramas among youth in Chennai

A study on the impact of Korean Dramas among the Chennai Audience.

Related Papers

Juan Creations

This study aims to find out the impact of watching Korean dramas among the selected Senior High school students of the Marinduque Midwest College and to determine the factors why most of the Filipino youth especially the students are attracted to watch Korean dramas. Specifically it attempts to answer the following questions: what is the socio-demographic profile of the students in terms of age and gender; what are the factors that influence the Filipino teenagers specifically the Senior High School students to watch Korean dramas and what are the impacts of Korean dramas among the Senior High school students of Marinduque Midwest College in terms of Lifestyle and Behaviors. The method utilized in this study was mixed method both qualitative and quantitative research. Respondents of this study were 106 senior high school students and selected using purposive sampling technique. Self-constructed questionnaire-checklist lifted from different sources and adapted by the researcher was utilized to gather necessary data for this study. Data were presented using graphs and tables. Frequency, percentage, ranking and weighted mean were used to analyze and interpret the data gathered. Results showed that the main factors why most of the Senior High school students are attracted to watch Korean dramas were because of the fact that it features good-looking actors/actresses (Cast) and simply the content/stories each Korean dramas depicts. Results further showed that majority of the respondents spent more than 5 hours in watching and sacrifice mostly their sleep. Topping the list of what the students adapt/pick up in watching were the language and Fashion/Style. Considering the foregoing conclusions, the researchers recommend the following: 1) The researchers recommend future researchers to tackle and focus on the content of Korean dramas through using content analysis research; 2) The researchers recommend future researchers to conduct a study on a comparative analysis between Korean teledramas and Filipino Teledramas; 3) The researchers recommend future researchers to tackle and focus on the impact of watching Korean dramas on the academic performance of the students; 4) The Future researchers may conduct further and in-depth studies on the impact of Korean dramas among the Filipino youths; 5) The researchers have recommended that the Senior High school students should practice time-management and use their time wisely when it comes in watching. Keywords: Korean dramas, Impact of watching Korean dramas, Lifestyle and behaviors, Filipino youths and Senior High school students

International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences

Carolyn Soo

Korean entertainment such as Korean dramas, Korean music and Korean fashion has become increasingly influential worldwide including Malaysia. This study intends to investigate the influence of Korean drama (K-drama) among Malaysian youths in terms of positive and negative influences. As K-dramas become a household name, it is important to find out if there are dangers to its influence and the type of influence it can have on youths today. The study was conducted using a quantitative online survey with a total of 49 respondents and analyzed using descriptive statistics. The results indicated that while there were both positive and negative influences of K-drama watching among Malaysian youths, the positive influence was higher than the negative influence which means that there was more positive influence than negative influence among Malaysian youths. Thus, the study recommends that K-drama watching be watched moderately with action taken to filter and select K-dramas that could infl...

intan soliha ibrahim

Numerous Korean cultural products (K-Pop), comprising of television dramas,movies, and songs, gained wide fame from the East to the Southeast Asian region at the end of the 1990s. Furthermore, the Asian economic crisis in the1990s has been affecting the behaviour of Asian buyers particularly regardingtheir selection of Korean cultural products including Korean drama series. In Indonesia, Korean drama series gained a promising reception from countless generations of fans. This snowballing number of Korean dramas flourished on various television stations in Indonesia. This study is constructed on the reception analysis’s framework, specifically portraying audience as an active media text interpreter. This analysis explains a broader conception of what audiences might act with texts, in order to allow the ritual uses of communications among the transmission of media contents from producers to audiences. This study applied qualitative approach through textual analysis and focused group discussion. The findings discovered that social values of materialism, patriarch, and class differences existed in the series, for instance, Princess Hours and Secret Garden. The leading male characters are portrayed as proud and selfish, resembling the typical characteristics of the soap opera genre Most Korean dramas will finish in a constructive way, where the protagonists eventually change and adapt positive values. Respondents who were involved in this research watched Princess Hours and Secret Garden for the diversified ways of connecting to audiences’ emotions by portraying attractive protagonists, compelling theme songs, and dramatic storylines.

Serene Zachariah

This research will address the portrayal of women in Korean drama, and its relation to the conditions within Korea and about its reception, influence and consequence on the youth through a feminist perspective. It will look at the popular perceptions of Korean dramas which is claimed to have started a cultural revolution by changing the attitude of the society towards convention and tradition. It will analyze two popular K-dramas ‘Boys Over Flowers’ and ‘Playful Kiss’ with respect to relationships, ideals of beauty and the portrayal of educated and working women in Korean drama. Media’s role in the influence on real life relationships, infantilism, subjugation and objectification of women are issues that will be dealt with in this paper. These factors embodied in the dramas are dialogic in nature which may appear ambiguous and relatively unimportant in nature, but makes it possible to bring elements of opposition into play which can unveil the real nature of Korean dramas, which is decisive in measuring the aesthetics of it in the global market. Keywords: Korean Drama, Boys Over Flowers, Playful Kiss, K-Drama, Feminism

Global Multimedia Review

Main objectives of the study are to examine the exposure of young viewers towards Private TV Dramas and to examine the positive feelings of young viewers towards Private TV Dramas. In addition, it is also objective of the study to examine the negative feelings of young viewers towards Private TV Dramas. In current study data is collected form private and Govt universities of Lahore. Data is collected 400 respondents which are students of different classes. Convenience sampling technique is used for data collection from the respondents. SPSS V-23 is used for analysis of data and application of statistical tests. After the statistical analysis the it was concluded that relationship was found very significant among all independent and dependent variables. It is also suggested that there is need to conducted new studies on this area as well.

IJIREM JOURNAL

TV drama series in Korea have become the favorite media genre and consequently, Malaysian viewers are inclined towards Korean dramas rather than other Asian ones. The purpose of this study is to explore the strategies employed by Korean media broadcasters in promoting Korean television dramas in Malaysia. This research uses qualitative methods to address the Korean drama phenomenon. Four respondents from selected Korean Broadcasters namely, from Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS) and the Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) were identified to participate in the in-depth interviews. The findings are significant in explaining the global success of Korean dramas. The results will also be able to help the Malaysian government in determining the future Malaysian media working plan.

The globalization of Korea culture, particularly in Asia was clearly seen through their television drama series and have become the favourite media genre especially among Malaysian viewers. The purpose of this study is to understand how the Korean culture in Korean drama able to influence Malaysian audiences. This research uses qualitative method to address the research problems. The aims are to investigate human phenomena, interpretations and meaning that are unknown and needed to be explored. This further enforces the reason behind why the researcher has decided to use qualitative method as the research methodology as it enables the researcher to understand why and how Korean dramas have been successful in having a big impact on Malaysian's audiences. The researcher uses ethnographic design concept in order to apprehend the impact of Korean dramas on Malaysian audiences by learning the similarities between both cultures. The researcher employed the in-depth interview method. In order to clarify the data obtained is valid and true, researcher has also conducted pragmatic validity process. The finding shows that Korean dramas satisfy Asian audiences' emotional needs by being easy to assimilate to a similar life style, cultural proximity and expressiveness.

International Journal of Intercultural Relations

Lisa Chuang

Abstract From a disposition theory perspective, successful dramas are driven by the development of strong dispositions towards characters. Thus, disposition theory logic is used to predict the enjoyment of American viewers when watching two different Korean dramas ( Personal Preference and Secret Garden ). The influence of sex, affective dispositions, empathy, open-mindedness, and past exposure to Korean culture on audience enjoyment is measured. The findings support the basic premise of disposition theory that the development of strong dispositions towards characters is needed in order to develop emotional responses necessary for successful dramas. Disposition theory can be used to explain viewing dispositions in order to predict enjoyment cross-culturally.

Fadhil Mustafa

Journal of humanities and social sciences studies

Eileen Estoque

RELATED PAPERS

Mikhail Treister

IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing

Orhan Arikan

BMJ Case Reports

Diego Carrillo-Pérez

Yakir Krichman

Proceedings of the …

Marion Rutherford

Auxiliadora Gómez Morón

arXiv (Cornell University)

Adithya Kumar Pediredla

Journal of Emergency Nursing

Jennifer Williams

IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems

Nikolaos Nomikos

RICARDO GARCÍA PÉREZ

Social Science & Medicine

jeremy ward

Afrique Science: Revue Internationale des Sciences et Technologie

Tanoh Hilaire Kouakou

International Journal of Educational Administration, Management, and Leadership

Britta Klopsch

Journal of the American Chemical Society

Reinhard Schweitzer-Stenner

Journal of Mind and Medical Sciences

Andreea Ioana Parosanu

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Explorations in Art and Technology

Anthony Padgett

The Journal of Physical Chemistry

Donald Ward

XXI Congreso Argentino de Ciencias de la Computación (Junín, 2015)

Leandro Antonelli

Journal of consumer sciences

Daleen Van der Merwe

Toplum Bilimleri Dergisi

Håkan Isak Yilmaz

RELATED TOPICS

•   We're Hiring!
•   Help Center
• Find new research papers in:
• Health Sciences
• Earth Sciences
• Cognitive Science
• Mathematics
• Computer Science
• Academia ©2024

The Economic Times daily newspaper is available online now.

How k-pop and korean drama had their biggest breakthrough in india amid the pandemic.

Korean content grew in popularity as more people found the time and inclination to find the perfect mental escape from the anxiety of the times we are in.

Elevate Your Tech Prowess with High-Value Skill Courses

Discover the stories of your interest.

Cyber-safety

Read More News on

Warren Buffett is selling Apple shares to hold on to cash. What does he see that others don’t?

Weapon systems that can arm India: Lessons from Russia-Ukraine, Gaza

The 96% of Indians that need an economic push

The curious case of disappearing craft beers

Hang Seng soars 30% in 2024: Are battered Chinese stocks back in favour?

Railways stocks: Stay bullish, just hedge a bit to avoid mistake of selling in haste: 7 outperforming railways stocks across different segments

Find this comment offensive?

Choose your reason below and click on the Report button. This will alert our moderators to take action

Reason for reporting:

Your Reason has been Reported to the admin.

To post this comment you must

Log In/Connect with:

Fill in your details:

Will be displayed

Will not be displayed

Share this Comment:

Uh-oh this is an exclusive story available for selected readers only..

Worry not. You’re just a step away.

Prime Account Detected!

It seems like you're already an ETPrime member with

Login using your ET Prime credentials to enjoy all member benefits

Log out of your current logged-in account and log in again using your ET Prime credentials to enjoy all member benefits.

To read full story, subscribe to ET Prime

₹34 per week

Billed annually at ₹2499 ₹1749

Super Saver Sale - Flat 30% Off

On ET Prime Membership

Unlock this story and enjoy all members-only benefits.

Offer Exclusively For You

Save up to Rs. 700/-

ON ET PRIME MEMBERSHIP

Get 1 Year Free

With 1 and 2-Year ET prime membership

Get Flat 40% Off

Then ₹ 1749 for 1 year

ET Prime at ₹ 49 for 1 month

6th Anniversary Offer

Get flat 20% off on ETPrime

90 Days Prime access worth Rs999 unlocked for you

Exclusive Economic Times Stories, Editorials & Expert opinion across 20+ sectors

Stock analysis. Market Research. Industry Trends on 4000+ Stocks

​Get 1 Year Complimentary Subscription of TOI+ worth Rs.799/-​

Stories you might be interested in

Subscribe Now! Get features like

• Latest News
• Entertainment
• Real Estate
• Lok Sabha Election 2024
• My First Vote
• IPL Match Today
• IPL Points Table
• IPL Purple Cap
• IPL Orange Cap
• The Interview
• Web Stories
• Virat Kohli
• Mumbai News
• Bengaluru News
• Daily Digest
• Election Schedule 2024

Korean wave: Made in Korea, gorged and loved in India

From k-dramas, k-pop, k-beauty and k-cuisine to korean language and more, the korean wave is on a rise in india.

It was in December 2019, that Torsha Sen, on a friend’s recommendation started watching the cult Korean Drama (K-drama), The Heirs, starring one of the most popular South Korean actors, Lee Min-Ho. “Once I was done with the show, I organically switched to watching Crash Landing On You (CLOY). I was blown by the content, the way these shows were packaged and the culture. It had me hooked and how! Almost overnight, I became a fan of actor Hyun Bin fan. Eventually the pandemic lockdown happened, and I ended up watching more than 50 Korean shows,” said Sen.

Sen, a Mumbai-based art manager’s love for the Korean culture inspired by the world of K-Dramas, motivated her to start Art Poure, through which she started cooking and delivering home-made Korean food across Mumbai. “There were no options for Korean food during the lockdown. I started researching and posted recipes on my social accounts and this eventually led to Art Poure. From Ramen, Gimbaps, Bulgogi, Corn Dogs, Kimchi Bokkeumbap to home-made bottled Kimchi, you name it, you have it.”

Just like Sen, it was the pandemic induced lockdown that led to establishing new Hallyu (Korean wave) converts in large numbers as people binge watched on K-dramas, fuelled by their impressive presence on OTT platforms. Popularity of shows such as CLOY, Goblin, Heirs to K-pop bands like BTS, iKon, BlackPink and many more, has brought in an army of fans, absorbing, and consuming every aspect of the Korean culture and creating a demand for their goods.

For instance, Korikart, an online store that sells Korean products in India, witnessed a phenomenal spike in sales during the pandemic. “The brand has seen a spike in sales owing to the pandemic and has witnessed 300 percent growth in sales since March 2020. It is currently reporting over 40-50 percent, month-to-month growth. The pandemic had its downside but for Korikart it also came with a silver lining since the work-from-home scenario gave people exposure to try K-drama, K-pop as well as K-products and that worked in Korikart’s favour,” said Seo Youngdoo, CEO and founder Korikart.

The brand during its initial launch, targeted K-pop and K-drama fans in India. “We can definitely say that the popularity of K-pop and K-dramas has opened up the market for us and lots of avenues for Korean products. Thanks to the Korean wave, we are getting orders from across India. Apart from cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, we have also seen a major consumption pattern from smaller cities like Chandigarh, Jaipur, places in UP and Northeast such as Assam, Tripura, Mizoram, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Arunachal due to their familiarity with Korean culture and K-pop,” said Youngdoo.

A survey conducted by market research firm Euromonitor mentions that, according to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of India, “the rise in consumption of Korean food in India after the 2020 lockdown can be correlated to the viewership of K-dramas and K-pop. Korean noodles in India witnessed a growth of 162 percent in terms of volume in 2020 and are expected to grow by 178 percent in 2021.”

“In 2020, Covid-19 induced lockdown accelerated the popularity and acceptance of Korean culture in India through dramas available on several video streaming platforms as well as the Korean music bands whose craze here is legendary. Korean food exports hit a record high, greatly boosted by social media posts from Asian celebrities and the popularity of the film Parasite. What broadly started as a fad following of K-pop, K-movies and K-dramas is burgeoning into fan culture, especially among the nation’s urban youth. After music and films, K-food and cuisine is getting essential makeovers and reaching the larger Indian market. K-cuisine is all rage especially on social media in the form of food challenges such as Mukbang,” said Hwang Il-Yong, director of Korean Cultural Centre India.

Restaurants and online food shopping platforms which offer Korean food items have been gaining popularity over the years but the local enquiries for dishes such as Korean fried chicken, Korean style Ramyeon, Kimchi, gimbap, kimchi-jjigae started flooding in after the first lockdown, owing to the consumption of Korean content online.

“Earlier this year, Urban Platter, a popular food delivery platform in Mumbai, ran out of Ramyun noodles, Gochujang (hot chili paste) and Gochugaru (red chili pepper flakes) due to surge in orders. Influenced by K-dramas, Urban Platter sees over 2,000 individual units of Korean food items being sold monthly,” said Yong.

The effect of Hallyu has widened the dictionary of culinary terms for K-food beyond Kimchi. Mushrooming of Korean restaurants across cities, is testament to the rising popularity of the cuisine. “Popularity of Korean food has risen due to different factors. The viewership of K-pop and K-drama has spiked in India as the COVID-19 pandemic forces people to spend more time at home. A growing interest in Korean pop-cultures such as K-pop music and Korean TV shows and movies among Indian consumers has undoubtedly contributed to the growth of Korean cuisine. Diners are also seeking exciting new culinary experiences and on-trend flavors. Korean cuisine is now rising as a new Asian taste in the global food scene,” said Rani Lee of Seoul Restaurant, Delhi.

Korean cuisine is also getting its fair share of customisation to suit the Indian palate and is being served with a desi twist. “What we have noticed significantly is that the Korean food has also been localised and customised by Indian fans according to their taste palate. New food items have been evolved such as Kimchi curry, Kimchi Pakora, Chana Dal Tikki(customized from Gamja-jeon, Korean style potato pancake),” said Hwang Il-yong.

When K-pop sensation BTS, released Butter in the month of May 2021, it smashed all records and went on to become the most streamed track on Spotify in the first 24-hours and most viewers for premiere of a music video on YouTube. The millions of BTS die-hard fans popularly known as BTS ARMY (Adorable Representative M.C. For Youth), were credited for this success. And in this the Indian leg of the ARMY took the lead with making Butter, Spotify India’s biggest debut.

The popularity of K-pop can also be witnessed at the ‘All India K-POP Contest’, organised annually by the Korean Cultural Centre India (KCCI). The pandemic took the competition online, that was hosted in 20 cities. “We want to provide the chance and platform for Indian youth to express their passions and to mingle with others as well. K-Pop in India is not just Korean one, it is Indian culture has been shaped by Indian youth. In the first round of our contest, which was open to all we received 3,686 entries from across the country,” said Yong.

This rising popularity has also led to many taking up to learn the Korean language. “After bingeing on dramas over the lockdown, I started using Korean words like saranghaeyo, annyeonghaseyo in my conversations with my friends. And, then I just wanted to learn the language. I have started using Duolingo app to learn more. I plan to take this further and maybe apply to Korean language studies,” said Shilpi Mazumdar, a marketing manager in Delhi.

At King Sejong Institute(KSI), that supports Korean language and culture around the world, first half of 2020 had 703 students at their four centres enrolled in 40 courses. In 2021, across six centres, 2,749 students were enrolled in 60 courses.

The online Korean language hobby classes by KCCI that opens up with 1,200 seats, gets filled within minutes for every semester of three months.

Oh, the world of Korean beauty

Glass skin, face sheets, snail mucin and more, K-beauty has taken off as a rage in India. Jamsu, a DIY Korean beauty hack of dunking the face into ice cold water went viral on the internet and even celebrities like Katrina Kaif were seen indulging in this hack. The past few years have see a boom in the K-beauty industry with Korean cosmetic brands getting a breakthrough in the Indian market. “People want to invest in personal care and are open to exploring new global beauty regimes. This has opened several innovation opportunities for brands in the segment, with K-beauty leading the pack. In fact, the pandemic has accelerated adoption. At Pilgrim, we witnessed a 2X increase in sales in the last 9 months with our K-Beauty range (Jeju) driving maximum sales. We saw 30 percent of our overall sales come from Northeast India with Guwahati leading the pack. In metros, Bengaluru and Delhi registered maximum sales. Both our ranges, K-Beauty and French Beauty were most popular among the age group of 20-35, who drove 60 percent of our revenue,” said Anurag Kedia, co-founder and CEO, Pilgrim.

Author Tweets @ NamyaSinha

Follow more stories on Facebook and Twitter

IPL 2024 Coverage

Join Hindustan Times

Create free account and unlock exciting features like.

• Terms of use
• Privacy policy
• Weather Today
• HT Newsletters
• Subscription
• Print Ad Rates
• Code of Ethics

• IPL Live Score
• T20 World Cup Schedule
• IPL 2024 Auctions
• T20 World Cup 2024
• Cricket Teams
• Cricket Players
• ICC Rankings
• Cricket Schedule
• T20 World Cup Points Table
• Iran President News Live
• Other Cities
• Income Tax Calculator
• Budget 2024
• Petrol Prices
• Diesel Prices
• Silver Rate
• Relationships
• Art and Culture
• Taylor Swift: A Primer
• Telugu Cinema
• Tamil Cinema
• Board Exams
• Exam Results
• Competitive Exams
• BBA Colleges
• Engineering Colleges
• Medical Colleges
• BCA Colleges
• Medical Exams
• Engineering Exams
• Horoscope 2024
• Festive Calendar 2024
• Compatibility Calculator
• The Economist Articles
• Lok Sabha States
• Lok Sabha Parties
• Lok Sabha Candidates
• Explainer Video
• On The Record
• Vikram Chandra Daily Wrap
• EPL 2023-24
• ISL 2023-24
• Asian Games 2023
• Public Health
• Economic Policy
• International Affairs
• Climate Change
• Gender Equality
• future tech
• Daily Sudoku
• Daily Crossword
• Daily Word Jumble
• HT Friday Finance
• Explore Hindustan Times
• Privacy Policy
• Terms of Use
• Subscription - Terms of Use

K-craze: Korean dramas and culture are taking India by storm

As India locked down last year, locals turned to Korean dramas, leading to a jump in the sales of Korean food, makeup and music.

New Delhi, India –  CS Mani, a 67-year-old Indian, isn’t someone you’d expect to become enthralled by a South Korean limited television series. But as he watched the finale of Crash Landing on You in his apartment in Mumbai, he couldn’t hold back his tears.

“Didn’t you cry in the end? Episode 16? I cried rivers,” he told Al Jazeera, recalling the sweet-sad love story of a South Korean heiress and a North Korean army captain.

Keep reading

India’s weight-loss guru rujuta diwekar on why grandma knows best, how a bollywood star’s death case took a ‘misogynistic spiral’, bollywood execs sue media for crime-filled portrayal of industry, dilip kumar: indians, pakistanis pay tributes to bollywood icon.

“My wife thinks I’m mad,” Mani added.

Mani is not mad. He’s just caught in the whirl of hallyu — the Korean wave, or South Korea’s pop-culture blitzkrieg. Considered something like Trojan horses for their growing soft power, South Korean cultural and pop culture exports have taken India by storm since the country went into one of the world’s strictest coronavirus lockdowns last year.

Isolated and rendered listless by the fear of COVID-19, many Indians turned to online entertainment and fell in love with K-dramas.

For most, the affair began with one of the 500 Korean offerings available on Netflix: Descendants of the Sun, Boys Over Flowers, Reply 1988, Kingdom, Sky Castle.

That budding romance blossomed for many into a fondness for all things Korean: the food the stars ate, the clothes and jewellery they wore, the soju (Korean alcoholic beverage) they drank, the language they spoke and the beauty products they used.

Demand for many of these products shot up in India, spurring Indian companies to invest more in acquiring and marketing them.

In 2020, South Korean noodle brand Nongshim alone recorded sales of $1m. So far in 2021, Indians have consumed 178 percent more Korean instant noodles, ramyun, than they did in 2020, according to market research firm Euromonitor International.

Interest in Korean language classes also accelerated.

“Earlier when people used to take language courses it was linked with employability,” Rathi Jafer, who heads the Indo-Korean Cultural and Information Centre in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, told Al Jazeera. “Now we have people learning the language because they want to understand what their icons are saying; what the singers are singing. They want to have a direct connect with Korea through the language.”

Korean dramas exported to India tend to be well directed, have high production values and offer plots that conjure up worlds where the concerns are familial, familiar and mundane.

That universal appeal is by design, says Dae Ryun Chang, a professor at Yonsei Business School in Seoul. He told Al Jazeera that while the language, setting and characters of K-dramas are distinctly Korean, the way they are crafted is “actually very multinational” and “meant to be palatable to international audiences”.

Chhitra Subramaniam, senior vice-president at Kross Pictures, a South Korean multinational production company that remakes Korean films in India, told Al Jazeera that K-dramas’ appeal lies in their “emotional stickiness”.

‘Make me laugh’

Some newly-converted K-drama fans who spoke to Al Jazeera cited coronavirus pandemic grief as the catalyst for their newfound interest in K-drama, saying they could no longer relate to American shows about spies and military operatives taking out enemies, or to cold, dysfunctional Scandinavian detectives hovering over dead bodies and chasing serial killers.

In a phone interview, one fan said, “No matter what stressful situation I may be going through, Korean dramas make me laugh.”

For Indians used to Bollywood masala and melodrama, K-dramas have it all: songs, a Mills & Boon romance often conducted in foreign locations, some light humour and all the tropes for which Indian commercial cinema is famous. There are love triangles, kidnappings, sudden bouts of amnesia, stern mothers, revenge for family honour and the biggest connection of all — living next door to a separated-at-birth brother/enemy nation.

“There is a kind of appeal of South Korean culture … a kind of familiarity [with] all the aspects of South Korean culture which is what has made them [K-dramas] such a hit,” Sripriya Ranganathan, India’s ambassador to South Korea, told Al Jazeera.

Consider the K-drama Sky Castle, where mothers and fathers go to extreme, often criminal lengths to make sure their children excel in education. “They [Koreans] are very, very focused on education … totally in tune with how we are in India. Anything is OK if it’s for the kid’s education. No cost is too much,” adds Ranganathan.

With Indians binge-watching K-dramas, Netflix recorded a massive spike of 370 percent in viewership of K-dramas in 2020 over 2019, according to Euromonitor. And soon others, too, jumped in. India’s Zee Group-owned satellite service provider Dish TV launched a daily package for 1.3 rupees (less than 2 cents) where customers could access Korean dramas dubbed in Hindi. Popular streaming platform MX Player offered K-dramas dubbed in Hindi and two regional languages, Tamil and Telugu.

While neither the Korean producers nor the streaming platforms were targeting 60-something senior citizens, Mani has been drawn into the cozy, heartwarming world of K-dramas and has binge-watched more than 70.

He now begins his texts with “annyeonghaseyo” (hello in Korean). He says that he has picked up about 60 Korean phrases to get by if he were to ever find himself in Seoul, a city he describes as having “175,000 CCTV [closed-circuit television] cameras”. He added admiringly, “South Korea has the fastest internet in the world… Every car in Korea has to have a camera, and they love drinking and eating.”

Martin Roll, a Danish author, brand strategist and consultant to several Korean conglomerates, told Al Jazeera that awareness is one of the key drivers of hallyu: Careful and effective insertion of “all possible touchpoints … where you touch a country, touch a brand … [and it] adds up to viewers’ perception … of Korea, of made in Korea.”

Sheet masks and snail serums

Crash Landing on You revolves around a lonely, rich South Korean chaebol heiress (a chaebol is a large, family-owned conglomerate) who goes paragliding, gets caught in a storm and lands on the other side of the border. An upright, handsome North Korean army captain rescues her and decides to deliver her back home safely. En route, there are nosy neighbours, a weepy fiancee, greedy brothers, evil villains, two nations at war, but also lots of Korean food, fashion, music, talking rice cookers, Samsung phones, and beauty products around stars with chok chok (luminous) skin.

It’s a story viewers could imagine being set in India or Pakistan. That may explain why so many Indians were riveted, Mani cried, and droves of people picked up sheet masks and snail serum from famous South Korean brands like Innisfree, Laneige, Etude, Sulwhasoo and The Face Shop from online stores like Amazon India and Nykaa.

Amazon India told Al Jazeera that there has been a “growth of more than 3.5 times in the K-beauty category”, and both platforms credit the “surge in demand for Korean beauty products” not to any marketing or distribution plan, but to the rising popularity of K-dramas and K-pop.

Some entrepreneurial Indians have also found value in riding the K-craze.

South Indian playback singer Chinmayi Sripada — who has one million followers on Twitter — launched a K-beauty brand called Isle of Skin.

Home-grown K-beauty brands like Pilgrim, launched in the midst of the pandemic last year, have become very popular. And young content creators have discovered that K-love doesn’t just help grow their online clout, but also their income.

Moon, an 18-year-old student who regularly posts K-pop dance covers shot in a grungy corner of her room in Bengaluru, has 86,700 followers on Instagram. She collaborates with e-commerce sites like Walmart-owned Flipkart and others to sell K-fashion and K-pop merchandise. She recently charged Flipkart 10,000 rupees ($136) for a 25-second product promotion video, her artist manager told Al Jazeera.

Mainstreaming of hallyu

While South Korean companies like Samsung, LG, Kia Motors, Lotte, Hyundai electronics and others have long been operating in India — the top 20 Korean companies alone account for 95 percent of the $17.45bn bilateral trade, according to Indian government data — what’s new is the mainstreaming of hallyu.

Underpinning it is a 2010 free trade agreement between the two countries in which India imports South Korean food items without tariffs, and beauty products with a 5 percent duty.

Last year, Korean became one of the eight foreign languages that could be taught in Indian schools when New Delhi announced a new policy to regulate education across the country.

But the obsession over everything Korean is growing at a speed and in directions unexpected. There are K-drama and K-pop fan clubs in towns and cities like Ahmedabad and Pune in the west, Dehradun in the north, Guntur in the south, Nagpur in the middle of the country, and Patna towards the northeast — towns where local languages are more popular than English. In early September, in the Mumbai suburb of Mulund, some BTS fans got together and raised money to book a bus shelter for a week which they plastered with massive posters of Jeon Jungkook, a BTS band member, to wish him well on his 24th birthday.

Last year alone, Korea’s pop culture exports earned the country $10.5bn globally, says Yonsei Business School’s Chang, citing data from the Korea Foundation for International Culture Exchange in Seoul.

Two Korean government ministries — culture, sport and tourism and foreign affairs — further boost that success with regular research on the status of hallyu in each country to identify where there’s potential to do more.

For instance, the Korean Cultural Centre in Delhi, with the Korean embassy’s help, supports hallyu fan clubs’ activities and regularly conducts K-pop music and dance competitions where no marks are given for originality. Trophies and trips to Korea go to only those singers and dancers who copy Korean pop idols with precision, matching every move, every beat, even attire.

In Chennai last year, the Korean consulate general picked five girls — winners of K-pop dance competitions — to launch an Indian K-pop girl band called Dream K-pop. They routinely post K-dance tutorials and covers of popular K-pop songs on their YouTube and Instagram handles.

‘Meant to be exporters’

Hyunwoo Thomas Kim, chief executive of South Korean film and TV production company Kross Pictures, told Al Jazeera from his Los Angeles office that since Korea is a small country, “We have always been sort of pressed to think outside of Korea … we were meant to be exporters. It’s in our DNA.”

Thomas arrived in India some six years ago with an interventionist’s zeal because, he says, Indian film directors and production houses had been, for years, brazenly remaking Korean hit films without permission or payment. Thomas didn’t like that, but he liked the size and appetite of the Indian market. He started big. His first Indian film was a remake of the Korean film Montage, and starred Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan. Since then, Thomas has remade Korean films in Telugu and Tamil — and his next one, set to release soon, is a Bollywood film starring A-lister Sonam Kapoor.

That’s not all. Apart from 10 films and five series for streaming platforms in the pipeline, he has also launched Korean video games and webtoons and claims close to four million subscribers already. “We are very profitable,” says Thomas. (Last year Kakao Entertainment, owned by Brian Kim, one of South Korea’s wealthiest people, picked up a 49 percent stake in Kross Pictures.)

Sunny Moon, a consultant with Euromonitor’s Korea office, told Al Jazeera that the Korean government has analysed the growing popularity of K-dramas in India, and “we can expect more and more spread of K-food, beauty and other Korean products in the Indian market”.

Danish consultant Martin Roll laughs when asked if South Korea has a world domination plan that we are unaware of.

“They have a very fierce and competitive mindset when it comes to business strategy, and it has paid off really well,” he says.

In the narrow, labyrinth lanes of Humayunpur, a small, low-income neighbourhood in Delhi where tall buildings are squeezed next to each other on tiny plots, Sang Hoon Lee runs his Kori’s Cafe & Restro.

A Korean who studied for a few years in an Indian boarding school, Lee returned to India after finishing his graduation in Canada and mandatory military service in Korea. He opened his first restaurant, Kori’s, in Delhi in 2012 serving Korean fried chicken, among other things. It failed. He moved locations, changed the menu and opened another Kori’s, then another, and another. It was his seventh attempt in 2015, the Humanyunpur restaurant, that finally took off. There was no looking back, and he now has three more restaurants up and running and a fifth one in the pipeline. All offer Korean food, with a sprinkling of hallyu.

• Firstpost Defence Summit
• Entertainment
• Web Stories
• Health Supplement
• First Sports
• Fast and Factual
• Between The Lines
• Firstpost America

Explained: Rise of Korean content in India, from shows like Squid Game to K-Pop

The global success of Oscar-winning Parasite, along with the ensuing lockdown, has led to interest in Korean films, shows, music, culture, and language in India.

We love their soppy soaps and gentle romances, their thrillers and intense cinema, their music and increasingly, even their food. The ‘K’ way of life has middle and upper-class India in thrall, a ‘we love everything about South Korea’ movement led primarily by its small-screen entertainment industry that has found the unlikeliest loyalists here.

There is even a word for this South Korean cultural phenomenon – hallyu.

How did the Korean wave start?

• In February 2020,  Parasite  director Bong Joon-ho urged viewers to overcome the “one-inch-tall barrier of subtitles” in his Oscar acceptance speech.
• Less than two years later, almost as if India was listening to him, the hallyu wave has swept through the country with shows such as  Crash Landing on You  and  Vincenzo,  the music of boyband  BTS,  and also films.

The lockdown effect

• The pandemic-led OTT boom brought with it hallyu 2.0 when many Indian watchers moved past their staple diet of American, Nordic, and Indian shows to discover K-dramas, a world removed from the ‘K’ Hindi dramas of not so long ago.
• The viewing for K-dramas on Netflix in India increased more than 370 percent in 2020 over 2019, a spokesperson for the OTT platform said.

The rise of the K-Dramas

• From the cerebral lawyer looking for quality entertainment to the elderly partaker of TV soaps, the shows have found fans aplenty.
• A glance at Netflix’s top-10 category shows the inroads Korean shows have made in India, with Lee Jung-jae and Park Hae-soo’s  Squid Game  and ‎Kim Seon-ho and ‎Shin Min-a-starrer romantic drama  Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha  consistently featuring on the list.
• Squid Game , a  Hunger Games -like survival show inspired by Korean children’s games, is on its way to becoming the  biggest show in Netflix history,  Ted Sarandos, co-CEO of Netflix, said this week.
• Since it began working with Korean filmmakers and talents in 2016, the streamer has introduced over 80 original Korean shows and films to its members around the world, and subs the K-content in 30 languages, the spokesperson said.
• Kingdom Season 2 , It’s Okay to Not Be Okay , and  Crash Landing On You  are among the series to have regularly featured in the Top 10 on Netflix in India.
• Over 22 million households tuned in for the horror TV series  Sweet Home .
• This is why Hyun Bin and Son Ye‑jin of the super-popular  Crash Landing on You,  a soft romance without any rough edges between a North Korean officer and a South Korean heiress, and actors Song Joong-ki, Park Bo-gum, have become huge stars in India alongside others such as Song Hye-kyo and Bae Suzy.
• K-drama lovers are also hooked on to Rakuten Viki, a streaming service that has over 15 million users globally, and has on its platform popular shows like  True Beauty  and  Yumi’s Cells.
• “It’s been an exciting time for us, especially as Rakuten Viki houses the largest K-drama collection across any streaming platform,” Sarah Kim, SVP of Content Business & Regional GM (Asia), told  Press Trust of India  in a statement.
• “We’re finding that people are hungry for Asian content, particularly K-dramas, for its unique storytelling and plot twists, and because it offers a different production quality compared to American and Western content,” she said.

Spike in popularity of the Korean language

• Such is the love for all things South Korean that many fans have overcome the “subtitle barrier,” and included Korean words such as “ noona  and  oppa ” (elder sister and brother), “ namja-chingoo ” (boyfriend), “ yoja-chingoo ” (girlfriend), and “ sarang-hae ” (I love you), and many other words and phrases in their daily vocabulary.
• Globally, too, the language is making waves with the Oxford English Dictionary recently adding 26 Korean words, including K-drama, hallyu, and kimbap to the dictionary.
• “We are all riding the crest of the Korean wave," BBC quoted Oxford English Dictionary as saying in a statement.
• Closer home, the Korean Cultural Centre India has started three-month online Korean language classes, and the 1,200 slots get full within two to three minutes of opening for registration, said KCCI director Hwang Il-yong.
• “Creating unique stories from the normal and familiar life stories can be the power of K-dramas, and this can be one of the main reasons why K-content is getting global popularity. Normal and ordinary people’s stories can get universal acceptance without resistance or barriers,” Hwang said.
• To introduce Indians to the world of  K-pop , KCCI also runs a K-pop contest pan India along with a K-pop academy.
• Catering to the rising demand, the Jawaharlal Nehru University is also running a Korean language teacher training course as well as a regular subject in collaboration with the KCCI.

Impact of Korean wave on India

• According to Young-Geul Choi, director of New Delhi’s Korea Tourism Organization (KTO), the popularity of K-content exploded during the pandemic but the first K-wave emerged in the Northeast in 2000 when teenagers became fascinated with the Korean lifestyle.
• “India is now one of the top countries in terms of numbers for streaming and watching K-Pop or K-drama content. We often receive consumer queries on our social networking sites asking about how to visit K-drama filming sites or K-pop exhibition spaces or where to buy official merchandise,” he said.
• With entertainment comes the culture, lifestyle, and fashion influence, which hallyu fans now want to adopt in their lives, Choi said.

Priyamani is a fan too!

• The Family Man  star Priyamani remembers how she made the transition from English, Turkish, and Belgian series to Korean shows.
• She first chanced upon  The Bride of Habaek  sometime late last year.
• She found the mystery and fantasy element “cute,” but it was the smash hit series  Descendants of the Sun , featuring Song Joong-ki and Song Hye-kyo, that sparked her “love affair” with K-dramas.
• “I am a big Song Joong-ki fan. I don’t have his posters and things like that on my wall but I just admire him. I immediately fell in love with him and the character he played. After  Descendants of the Sun , I just kept watching and watching a lot of series. Touchwood, my love is still going strong.
• What I found was these shows are very relatable. You can relate to the culture and tradition because they are also very family-oriented like us (Indians).
• You can connect with these stories even if it is a fantasy or romance. The acting is also extremely real.”
• Priyamani believes that K-drama fans already have cities like Seoul, Busan, or Daegu on their travel bucket list.

A training manager in Guntur is swept away too!

• A lot of people were already watching these dramas even before the pandemic, added Divya Jaladi, 37, a training manager in Guntur.
• “The craze has been there for a long time now but the pandemic definitely gave it a push. People were bored. There was not much content on TV channels. K-dramas are a little bit different. There is a sort of guilty pleasure to them.”
• Aspirational storylines like rich man-meets-poor woman or plots set in a fantastical world also help. “You sometimes wish for yourself that something like that happens to me. It’s very fantastic and generally doesn’t happen (in real life). Also, you don’t get to see some very good-looking people on the screen that often.”

(With inputs from Press Trust of India)

Find us on YouTube

Related Stories

'Bigg Boss' fame Nimrit Kaur passes on her role in 'Love Sex Aur Dhokha 2' due to explicit scenes: Report

Crew: Singer Badshah drops teaser of his collaboration with Diljit Dosanjh from Kareena Kapoor, Tabu, Kriti Sanon's comedy

Anant Ambani-Radhika Merchant's Pre-Wedding Festivities: Saif Ali Khan-Kareena Kapoor, Ranveer Singh-Deepika Padukone exude royalty for the 'Desi Romance' theme

WATCH: Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan dance on 'Naatu Naatu' at Anant Ambani-Radhika Merchant's pre-wedding festivities