K-Dramas are here to conquer Indian audience. Are you ready to watch them?  

By Shyamolie Parekh, K-Drama enthusiast, Ahmedabad.  

K-dramas are exactly what they appear to be, Korean dramas. Korean dramas are web series or TV shows of different genres in the Korean language. They usually have 16, 24, or 50 episodes that are 45 minutes to an hour-long.

As the writers tell stories, even K-dramas have a beginning, climax, and a conclusion in a simpler way. The shows are usually in the genre of romance or dramas, of course with a few exceptions in case these two genres don’t interest you much!

If you’ve never watched a K-drama before reading this, then you wouldn’t know of the impact they have on their viewers. This may seem like an exaggeration, but it’s impossible to watch a Korean drama casually. K-dramas are built in a way that you can’t stop watching them until you are done – in easier words, they’re addictive.

The story takes you deep into the characters and their lives and situations. Some popular K-dramas in drama and romance are – Boys over flowers, It’s okay to not be okay, Crash landing on you, What’s wrong with secretary Kim and many more. Ones in mystery and thriller or comedy could include – Vincenzo, Vagabond, Flower of evil, Save me, Tell me what you saw, and more.

Some people enjoy putting on a show in the background while doing something, if you don’t know the language it is impossible to understand what they are saying without subtitles. It’s hard to keep them in the casual watch category as they require attention and interpretation. There are numerous twists and interesting storylines one wouldn’t want to miss.

“It’s okay to not be okay” can be categorized as a romance, drama, and mystery show. It has multiple twists in its story. It is a beautiful show created by Studio Dragon and networked by TVN, a popular TV network in Korea. It is about the emotional journey between an introverted children’s book author named Ko Moon-Young (played by Seo Yea-ji) who meets a kind caretaker who works at a psychiatric care hospital named Moon Gang-Tae (played by Kim Soo-hyun) and his brother Moon Sang-Tae (played by Oh Jung-se), who suffers from autism.

The way the story between the three characters as a group and each character is developed in an interesting and gripping way. This show has it all from living as a family and going through an emotional journey together to finding the real culprit for Gang-Tae’s mother’s murder.

A show similar to It’s okay to not be okay is – Hyde, Jekyll, Me (starring Hyun Bin and Han Ji-min). This show is about a theme park owner who struggles with a split personality disorder. It touches upon mental health and emotional healing with some romance, similar to It’s okay to not be okay.

A show for the comedy and dark comedy and action genre is Vincenzo. This show became a hit as soon as it hit the entertainment platform, Netflix. Vincenzo Cassano (played by Song Joong-ki), a Korean-Italian mafia lawyer, visits his motherland, Korea.

The story builds up as he meets Hong Cha-young (played by Jeon Yeo-been), a lawyer in a law firm notorious for its unjust and corrupt ways, and her assistant Jang Jun-woo (played by Ok Taecyeon).

The story goes, Vincenzo goes to an apartment complex in Korea, that complex was the place where he had hidden tons of gold that belonged to his mafia boss. He tries to buy the complex so he could destroy it and take the gold, but the tenants and a company called Babel pharmaceuticals affect his decisions.

He then meets Hong Cha-young, the daughter of a selfless and kind lawyer who defends the building. The story builds up in interesting ways as they work together to save the people and close down the corrupt law firm.

A show similar to this is Lawless Lawyer. A show about Bong Sang-pil (played by Lee Joon-gi) who becomes a lawyer to avenge his mother’s death and often uses his fists instead of the usual ways of fighting injustice. He runs a firm with Ha Jae-yi (played by Seo Yea-ji). This show has common themes with Vincenzo like action and law.

A show perfect for the thriller genre would be Save Me. Im Sang‑mi’s (played by Seo Yea-ji) former classmates come to help as she faces danger after her family has been sucked into a religious cult pretending to be a spiritual healing group. She goes through a lot of emotional troubles as she starts uncovering more and more secrets about the cult and its leader. The story is thrilling and gripping, once you start you can’t stop. This show stars Woo Do‑hwan as Suk Dong‑chul and Ok Taecyeon as Han Sang‑hwan.

Kdramas are a good way to spend your time. They can be quite entertaining and fun to watch alone, with friends or family, but they do require attention while watching.

About the author: 

Shyamolie Parekh is a student of Class-X and lives in Ahmedabad. She is a deep fan of Korean Music, Series, and many things Korean. She can be reached at dewmediaschool@gmail.com

ACN