New Delhi | "Made in Korea" director Ra Karthik and actor Priyanka Mohan love the way their cross-cultural drama about a young woman's love for all things Korea, brings the two worlds together through their shared love for movies and shows.
If Indians are obsessed with K-dramas, films, BTS, K-pop and K-food; South Koreans love Aamir Khan and the Bollywood movie "3 Idiots", Mohan told PTI in an interview.
Karthik said he was inspired to make the movie after witnessing his wife's love for all things Korean -- from kimchi, a fermented cabbage dish, to Korean buns she would make at home.
They are happy that the movie has topped Netflix's Global Top 10 Non-English Films chart in 24 countries. It debuted on the OTT platform earlier this month.
"I think I am living many people's dreams. After this movie, I think people will want to go to Korea," Mohan said.
Karthik said he was first introduced to the popularity of K-dramas in 2015, recalling that the genre had a strong following even before the advent of OTT platforms. He remembers having a huge collection of Korean shows on his hard disk.
"I gave the hard disk to all my friends to copy the entire 500 GB of K-dramas. Slowly I started thinking about why they like K-dramas so much and why they shift to food after watching these shows.
"In my house, I have seen my wife preparing kimchi and the Korean bun. In Chennai, there used to be only one Korean restaurant, now there are 20 and in music I think K-pop is the most popular after Ilaiyaraaja and A R Rahman," the filmmaker said. Then there is the legend of an Indian princess travelling to Korea and marrying the king there, which became a hook-line for Karthik's story for "Made in Korea".
In the film, Mohan's character is shown playing an Indian princess, known as Sembavalam or Suriratna, in a school play -- a performance that sparks her desire to travel to Korea.
"There are so many similar words in Tamil and Korean like Appa, Amma, and others. It just inspired me to do an Indo-Korean movie," said Karthik, who made his directorial debut with the 2022 movie "Nitham Oru Vaanam".
Mohan, known for appearing in films such as "Doctor", "Don" and "Saripodhaa Sanivaaram", said shooting the movie in South Korea felt like a new chapter for her.
"To be frank, my character knew a lot more about Korea than me. I wanted it to be an experience. So I wanted to go there and then learn more about the culture and people and their traditions and all that. But I kind of found one similarity that we all kind of have the same feelings, the same emotions, the same values, the same traditions.
"That really helped me understand them even better, you know. So we all have very similar human emotions, right? So that kind of really helped me understand them more," she said.
Most of Mohan's scenes are with senior Korean actor Park Hye-jin, known for her roles in hit shows such as "Squid Game", "Pachinko" and "Beyond Evil".
"We were really happy that she was on board and she was a real sport. She's around 60-65 but she brought so much energy on the sets. She's so full of life, almost like a curious child. She was so interested to know everything and wanted to improvise. And she was really friendly with me. And I think that really reflected on screen as well." Priyanka said like her character Shenba, technology came in handy when conversing with her Korean cast members.
The crew, which included 35 members from Korea, were surprised to know about the popularity of K-dramas in India, according to the actor.
Karthik and his team spent almost 58 days in South Korea while Mohan shot for the movie for 35 days.
"I have not shot outside of the country. This is my first ever shooting outside of the country. The takeaway would be the friendships and the warmth that I shared with the people there. I really had withdrawals coming back to India because I didn't actually feel like coming back. We had such a great bond.
"In fact, one name we kept on hearing there was Aamir Khan sir and how they all really love watching '3 Idiots' on big screens there... I'm happy that the world is coming closer and there are no more barriers to separate us. It's nice that cinema is coming together and we get to tell stories from our heart and people are also enjoying it," she said.
Karthik said he loved the discipline and planning that the crew had while filming.
"It was interesting to see how organized and disciplined they are," he said.
He is also happy that he could finally take his wife to the land of kimchi during the making of the film.
"She would put a story on Instagram everyday of the 58 days we spent there. I think it was my first international trip since our marriage. So it's like a honeymoon for her after 10 years of being married. Her input helped this film a lot," he said.
