So you are BTS ARMY, can’t live without your daily dose of Choi Nam-ra or Vincenzo Cassano on Netflix and know your ramyeon from the Japanese ramen just by looking at it. If you have been stuck by the ‘Hallyu’, like countless others in India, now you have another reason to ride the Korean wave.
The premise is simple. You have gorged on flavoursome Korean dishes while enjoying the storytelling techniques, emotional depth or interesting plotlines of K-dramas on OTT platforms. Now, if you were to recreate the same magic, but on a bigger platform like cineplex, you’d obviously give it a good thought, right?
That’s what PVR INOX is doing—getting globally acclaimed Korean movies to the big screen.
“As the K-cultural phenomenon grows in India among the youth, we are glad to grow this community by making such content available in cinemas across the country,” says Sanjeev Kumar Bijli, executive director, PVR INOX, on getting Sundance Film Festival-breakout Past Lives for India release.
Past Lives, by first-time director Celine Song, is an English-Korean relationship drama that has earned rave reviews with critics hailing it as one of the best movies of the year. After releasing in the US earlier in June, it hit Indian theatres on July 7. Past Lives will be followed by the screening of other popular Korean films in the near future, adds Bijli.
Korean movies have gained significant traction in India, captivating audiences with their compelling narratives and distinctive cultural elements. The global popularity of Korean dramas and the rich tapestry of their culture have transcended boundaries, attracting a growing audience base in India.
Past Lives is no different. The central characters in the film, Nora and Hae Sung, are two deeply connected childhood friends who are separated after Nora’s family immigrates to the US from South Korea. They are reunited in New York two decades later. During that one fateful week, the duo confront notions of destiny, love and the choices that they have to make—to lead a life while losing another.
PVR INOX’s big bet on Korean movies comes at a time when there has been a massive drop in theatre-going audiences in the country, especially post the coronavirus pandemic.
Commenting on this, Bijli says: “In the past financial year, some movies worked and some didn’t. The numbers are definitely not the same as they were in the 2019-20 fiscal, just before the pandemic, but this quarter has been reasonably okay. The next two-three quarters look strong with some exciting movies coming up.”
Recently, PVR INOX announced that it has plans to close around 50 cinema screens over the next six months. Clarifying on the development, Bijli says: “I don’t know why that made such big news. That’s always a part of the strategy of any retail chain. We also consider ourselves a retail company and we have been operating for over 25 years. There had been some malls that had become very dilapidated. Some malls had also become empty, or abandoned. Especially after the pandemic, a lot of retailers had left those malls. So, we didn’t want to be a part of those malls. So, the idea was to close those that were not making any sense and replace them with better destinations,” he adds.
Talking about the way forward, Bijli says: “We have just got the licence to open a 10-screen cineplex. In all, we have about 120-odd screens that are under various stages of construction. Hopefully, we will be able to open about 100 by the end of the year in various geographies across the country.”