Why love shown in K-dramas always reminds me of the early 2000s old school Bollywood love that I miss so much!

The multiple similarities that we see between K-dramas and Bollywood could probably be the reason why the Hallyu wave has taken over Indian audiences right now, me included, of course! So let’s dig deeper into what makes us wanna go on a K-drama spree every now and then!

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve loved watching romantic movies. I cannot even count the number of Shahrukh Khan movies I’ve grown up watching! From Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, K3G to Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, I slowly kept falling for the idea of love shown in Bollywood every single day. And of course I wanted my dupatta to get stuck on someone’s bracelet, my hair to fly in slow motion, someone to hold me when I accidentally was about to fall and then ended up just staring into their eyes. I wanted a romantic background score for my life and I wanted a fabulous introduction like any of the lead actresses do in all the Dharma movies. But as we progressed further as a society, the movies we watched progressed too. We now live in an era where we are more open about our feelings than we once were. 

Hook ups, flings, situationships, committed and platonic relationships, we now have so many terms to give to a relationship. And we’ve enjoyed our fair share of movies and TV shows that have brought these terms to life in depth. But one day after suddenly stumbling upon K-dramas, the nostalgia in me of what I’ve grown up watching kicked in. I had forgotten what it felt like to see my favourite characters just hold hands or hug. The male lead falling in love with the female lead and doing things for her purely out of his love for her is something I terribly missed watching on-screen. That to me was more romantic than anything I've ever seen.

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The way Shahrukh Khan movies made me believe that "Humari filmon ki tarah, humari zindagi mein bhi end tak sab kuch theek hi ho jaata hai, aur agar naa ho toh picture abhi baaki hai, mere dost", K-dramas are built on that same ideology as well. For Instance, when I watched my first K-drama ‘Crash Landing on You’, Both Yoon Se-Ri and Captain Ri went above and beyond to stay together because they belonged to enemy countries. Or when in Extraordinary Attorney Woo, they beautifully showed Young-Woo (a lawyer who is on the spectrum) and Joon-Ho’s love story and ignited hope that there’s someone out there for everyone. 

The K-drama OSTs are another major similarity with Bollywood romantic songs. Both of them are so soothing to hear and the lyrics hold so much meaning with regard to how you’d wanna express your feelings to your partner. ‘Very, Slowly’ from Twenty Five-Twenty-One reminds me so much of ‘Teri Ore’ from Singh is Kinng. Both talk about slowly being drawn towards the one you love. Or how ‘Here I Am Again’ from Crash Landing on You has the same message as ‘Main Yahaan Hoon’ from Veer-Zara. The language might be poles apart but the essence of it is the same, which is why it succeeds in reaching so many people around the world. 

The forehead kisses, walking under the same umbrella on a rainy night, childhood connection between the leads, and awkward pecks on the lip, the recipe for both is the same and it’s the best time for die-hard romantics like me to consume content. I might be a K-drama girl through and through now but Bollywood will always be the root cause of all my filminess and in this world where I’m often given reality checks about my K-drama like dreams and even called delusional, I’ll still never let go of the hope of finding my ideal partner because if we ‘Romantics’ won’t believe in the idea of love, then who will?

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