Lifestyle

Hallyu Wave | What is the third Korean Wave?

AUTHOR : SREEJITA KARMAKAR

Introduction 

The Korean wave or Hallyu is a term that is spreading through countries like wildfire. Hallyu is a portmanteau of the words: han meaning “Korean” and ryu meaning “wave”, which refers to this exact spread of the Korean culture across the globe. At first, the Korean wave started to enter households through K-dramas and K-pop across East, South, and Southeast Asia. It was initially a regional development and then it took over the world in a gradual process, thanks to the introduction of the internet and social media (especially YouTube), which helped in pulling audiences from all around the globe. 

As if apps like Instagram, Twitter and YouTube weren’t already aiding the wave, these days apps like V LIVE help Kpop fans sitting anywhere in the world to connect with their favourite K-pop idols going live from another part of the world. Weverse is another app created by Hybe Corporation for hosting multimedia content and artist-to-fan communications. Hybe Corporation launched legendary groups like BTS (the Biggest Boyband in the World at present), and TOMORROW X TOGETHER. 

Hallyu covers all that denotes the rapid growth of Korean culture and popular culture enclosing everything: drama, music, online games, sports, skincare, Korean cuisine, and much more. Today we are experiencing the third wave of this widespread Hallyu. 

Spread of the third Korean wave in India – Hallyu

The spread of Korean culture in India was a very gradual process. It has been building its heart at the core of modern India and the Indian youth for a very long time now and we can trace it back to the days when PSY‘s Gangnam Style was released back in 2012 and it became an instant superhit not only in South Korea but also worldwide. India was no exception. People surely still remember grooving to the peppy tunes of the song back in the day. I remember, around the same time, there was a Korean healthcare unit set up in different towns of India and my grandma and I used to visit the place in our city and the Korean manager used to play Gangnam Style every single day for the people to have a little dance exercise with the song. 

K-pop has ever since been slowly and steadily spreading its roots all over India. Back in 2015, when people were still not so well-versed with K-pop, The Korean Broadcasting System had sent a few of their K-pop superstars, namely – Super Junior‘s Kyuhyun, SHINee‘s Minho, CNBLUE‘s Jonghyun, Infinite‘s Sungkyu, and EXO‘s Suho – because of a variety show called ‘Exciting India’, to earn a chance to appear on a prime time news show. 

At that time, the Indian audience needed a little push to reach the label of a leading K-pop fan base among the others around the world. The idols who had come to India were walking on the streets of Mumbai with next to no people recognizing them. That is when a question was raised among the K-pop mates, “Will K-pop ever be famous in India?” And now is when that question has been answered. Yes, indeed, not only K-pop but the majority of the Korean culture has taken India by storm. 

Hallyu 3.0 among the People of India

Since the release of Blood Sweat and Tears by BTS back in 2016, BTS has taken its roots in the hearts of thousands of Kpop fanatics in India. After PSY‘s Gangnam Style, BTS‘s Blood Sweat and Tears was another much-welcome K-pop revolution all around the globe, including India. Since then, the Indian fans have been even more active in K-pop. 

The Korean Cultural Centre of India (KCCI) annually holds a K-pop Contest, where the K-pop fans of India participate in categories like Dancing and Singing and compete against each other on big platforms, and are judged by their favourite K-pop idols visiting India to judge these competitions, like IN2IT (boy group) and AleXa (soloist). With the slight exception of 2020 where COVID-19 prevented any such social gathering, but luckily BTS popped in to leave a heartfelt message to the contestants of the K-pop India Contest 2020. 

And this is not only limited to K-pop, but there are also mini-competitions held for K-Beauty challenges, and classes are being provided by the KCCI for Korean language, Taekwondo training, and much more, and the people of India seem to love the Korean influence in India. 

Many Indian news and entertainment channels and magazines have hosted interviews with many K-pop artists; including KARD (when they visited India for their 2019 concerts in Delhi and Guwahati), and TOMORROW X TOGETHER, ATEEZ, TRI.BE, and of course, BTS. 

K-drama fever has been a constant star in the skies of India for a long time now. Famous K-dramas like Descendents of the Sun, The Heirs, Hwarang, Boys Over Flowers, Love Alarm, Romance Is a Bonus Book, It’s Okay to Not Be Okay, Dream High, and so on, have been binge-watched by K-drama enthusiasts in India. 

Indian Celebrities and the third Korean wave

Indian celebrities and musicians like Ayushmann Khurrana, Tiger Shroff, Disha Patani, AR Rahman, Diljit Dosanjh, Armaan Malik have all been seen enjoying K-pop songs. Armaan Malik has recently been receiving a lot of love and appreciation from his own fans and many K-pop fans because of his mind-blowing collaboration with Eric Nam (famous K-pop soloist) and KSHMR (DJ) in Armaan’s latest English track ‘Echo’. 

The positive results of these lovely interactions between the Indian celebrities and the Korean artists are a great way to spread Hallyu 3.0 because the fans of these celebrities include both the ones who are fans of K-pop themselves and the ones who have little to no clue about K-pop and the world of Korean culture. Seeing their favourite Indian celebrities jam and dance to K-pop songs and seeing their much-admired Indian musicians praise, thinking about collaborating and actually collaborating with K-pop musicians is a great way of increasing K-pop fan-following in India. 

Apart from the South Korean music industry, the skincare industry is much talked about and the famous Indian playback singer Chinmayi Sripada is one of the many who were influenced by K-Beauty and tried ginseng, snail slime, and seaweed in their skincare routine.

K-pop Artists and Indian Movies

The famous Bollywood movie called ‘3 Idiots’ is one of the most-watched and adored movies in South Korea, because the pressure of education there and in India is always so high. Many Korean celebrities have mentioned having watched the movie and a few months ago, Park Jimin of BTS said in one of his V LIVE conversations that he had watched the movie 3 Idiots and after that, the movie trended in India, on Twitter and Netflix and became talked about again after almost twelve years of its release. Foreign media reported on it as well. 

EXO is a super famous boy group in South Korea. And it is equally well-loved and followed by many EXO-Ls (EXO fans) all around the world. There are sweet pictures of the interaction between EXO‘s ex-member Kris Wu and Deepika Padukone (Indian actress) on the sets of ‘XXX: The Return of Xander Cage’ (2017). Not only that, Lay Zhang or simply Lay, another member of EXO has also been in a Bollywood movie called ‘Kung Fu Yoga’ (2017) alongside Chinese actor and martial artist, Jackie Chan and famous Bollywood actors like Sonu Sood, Disha Patani, Amyra Dastur and more.

The Phogats from Haryana’s famous wrestler family, on whose life the Bollywood movie ‘Dangal’ was made with Aamir Khan, were invited to New Delhi for a meeting with South Korean first lady Kim Jung-sook, who had watched the movie with a group of Indian students back home in South Korea. MAMAMOO‘s Solar has also mentioned her love for ‘Dangal’.

Conclusion 

India has always been gracious and welcoming to new cultures and artists from all around the world, and the South Korean culture and its world-renowned entertainment industry are no exception. Therefore the third Korean wave has had its effects on the Indian audience and introduced us to Korean music, sports, dramas, lifestyle, and whatnot. And here’s to hoping that the sweet interactions keep going on for many years to come. 

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