While watching various international content on global OTT platforms like Netflix, there are moments that completely catch you by surprise in the most unexpected ways. This happens when a country like South Korea abruptly appears in a production from a distant, foreign land that you never imagined. When Korea is not just a fleeting subject or a brief backdrop, but serves as the core setting driving the entire narrative, the sense of wonder and delight is truly beyond words.
It is now entirely natural and understandable for Korea to appear in works from geographically close and culturally intertwined countries like Japan or China. Recognizing Korea in productions from Southeast Asian nations like Thailand or Vietnam, where the Korean Wave has swept fiercely, or in European and American works where the status of K-content has significantly risen, also makes perfect sense. I even recall the fascinating and novel experience of seeing Korea as the backdrop for a variety show in Brazil, a South American country located on the exact opposite side of the globe.
I have frequently encountered through various media that the Korean Wave in South America, even if not the absolute mainstream culture, enjoys passionate popularity that the public fully recognizes and enjoys. However, an even more surprising and refreshing shock was the fact that a feature film set in Korea was directly produced in India. This is because India is not only deeply rooted in its own unique and diverse culture, but it is also a cinematic powerhouse that has built a massive, independent ecosystem encompassing 'Bollywood' and various regional film industries.
The Indian film industry boasts an astonishing scale that easily surpasses Hollywood in the United States in terms of annual production volume. The biggest characteristic of their works lies in the unique 'Masala' directing style, where glamorous singing and dancing sequences are never left out of the plot development. In a country where the public's love and enthusiasm for domestic films and local actors are unparalleled, the very fact that foreign cultural products like Korean songs and dramas are widely introduced and gaining popularity is a highly unusual and remarkable phenomenon.
The Korean Wave in India began to sprout slowly about a decade ago, but it achieved explosive growth triggered by the global COVID-19 pandemic. As people spent more time indoors during the lockdowns, the number of Indian viewers who enjoyed watching Korean dramas and movies through OTT platforms like Netflix grew exponentially. From a cultural perspective, South Korea is undeniably the country that gained the most immense ripple effect and secondary benefits on the global stage during the pandemic. Through the powerful medium of Netflix, countless people around the world overcame language and border barriers to fall deeply into the charm of K-content.
A recent heartbreaking incident in India simultaneously reveals both the deep shadows and the complex reality of the Korean Wave locally. There was a tragic event that caused a massive shock, where three sisters who were deeply immersed in K-culture in India made an extreme choice and left a suicide note mentioning Korea. On the surface, it seemed as if family opposition and excessive immersion in the Korean Wave were the causes, but as you pointed out, it was actually a tragedy combined with their father's repeated remarriages, complicated family affairs, and the cultural suppression unique to that region. Paradoxically, this incident also serves as a bitter cross-section demonstrating just how significant a meaning the country of South Korea has taken on deep within Indian society today.
Despite the surprisingly high awareness of Korea within India, I never anticipated that Indian capital and production teams would directly create a feature-length film set in Korea. While well-made Indian films have occasionally been introduced and loved in Korean theaters in the past, encountering Korea within an Indian film or finding an Indian original work dealing with Korea on a global platform was almost non-existent. What is even more interesting is the fact that the director who helmed this newly released film had never deeply experienced K-content, such as Korean dramas, prior to filming.
Regardless of the director's personal experience, the powerful influence and commercial value that Korean works hold among the Indian public had already been sufficiently proven over the past decade. Originally, this project was planned and produced with the intention of an official theatrical release in India, but it ultimately chose to be exclusively released to viewers worldwide through Netflix. Thanks to this strategic decision, Korean audiences were also able to comfortably enjoy this unique film at home, and it is presumed that the fact that the setting is none other than 'Seoul, Korea' served as a highly attractive advantage during the global platform programming process.
The Indian film Back in Seoul (also known as Made in Korea), released on Netflix, depicts the arduous yet dazzling journey of the protagonist 'Shenba', who grew up in a small village in Tamil Nadu. Passionately played by rising Indian actress Priyanka Arul Mohan, Shenba is a character who accidentally becomes deeply fascinated by Korean culture and always yearns to travel to Korea. Breaking away from her existing life intertwined with the pressure of an arranged marriage forced by her family, she manages to obtain a work visa with the help of an assistant, finally stepping onto the Korean soil of her dreams to begin a fierce year of living abroad.
However, the reality of Seoul she faces is far from the glamorous fantasy she saw in the media. Shenba encounters huge obstacles right from trying to find a job, and she experiences firsthand the high, cold barriers she must endure as a foreigner in an unfamiliar land. She even suffers the humiliation of being falsely accused as a thief and dragged to a police station, but she never collapses in the face of harsh reality, resolutely creating her own new opportunities and precious connections. The film densely unfolds the process of her jumping into the restaurant business after meeting benefactors through many twists and turns, gradually discovering her true identity and the values she loves in the unfamiliar city of Seoul.
Usually, when different countries collaborate or set a film in another country, it is common for relatively less recognized local actors to be cast, and Back in Seoul also has this aspect. Nevertheless, the cheerful dancing and singing unique to Indian films invariably appear in the early parts of the drama, providing a fresh kind of entertainment along with a strange sense of heterogeneity, while actress Kim Min-ha took on the Korean dubbing for Shenba to add immersion to the play. Although it may differ slightly from the writing styles of glamorous Hollywood movies or typical Korean commercial films, looking at it from the unique perspective of an Indian-made film set in Korea will provide a sufficiently interesting and valuable viewing experience.
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