New Delhi: India and South Korea share a deep connection and this year marks the 50th anniversary of their diplomatic ties. The year-long celebration to mark this anniversary, which took off at the beginning of 2023, witnessed a cultural crossover this Friday with Bollywood singer Neeti Mohan crooning a few lines from a Korean song and K-pop group MustB dancing to ‘Naatu Naatu’, the Oscar-winning song from Telugu movie RRR.
A Buddhist pilgrimage as well as an exhibition of Korean Buddhist traditional art have already been held. Friday’s ‘Crazy for K-Culture’ was organised by the Korean Cultural Centre India and the Korea Foundation for International Cultural Exchange.
The event at the 2,000-seater Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Auditorium was also attended by the South Korean deputy minister for cultural and art policy, Yu Byung Chae, who is in India to attend the G20 Culture Ministers’ meeting to be held in Varanasi Saturday.
Korean Ambassador to India Chang Jae Bok was also in attendance, along with Nitesh Kumar Mishra, joint secretary, Department of Youth Affairs, Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, and Sunil (goes only by first name), additional director general of global outreach at Prasar Bharati, who represented the Government of India.
The event started off with a mention of the success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission.
While the minister offered his congratulations, Ambassador Chang lauded ISRO. “What an achievement by the scientists and researchers from India. We look forward to close cooperation with Korean scientists and researchers in the space sector,” he said.
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Long history spanning centuries
In his speech, visiting minister Yu emphasised on the historical ties between the two nations dating back to 2,000 years. He also said that Buddhism, “which left a huge impact on the lifestyle and mindsets of Koreans”, reached their country from India.
The visiting minister also noted the rising consumption of Korean content in India.
“Korea and India saw our bilateral partnership grow stronger…owing to the popularity of K-culture. In particular, India recently topped the list of the biggest consumers of Korean content as BTS and Netflix series Squid Games became global household names,” he said.
According to the 2023 Overseas Hallyu Survey on average monthly consumption of Korean content, India topped the list with 28 hours, followed by the UAE (22.1 hours) and Indonesia (22 hours), a press release by Korean Cultural Centre India stated.
“Our bond has grown stronger, thanks to our shared interest and amazing people-to-people connections. Cultural exchange has played a pivotal role in this journey. We’re all embracing Korean art, like K-pop and K-drama, here in India. And in Korea, they are falling in love with Indian elements like yoga, classical dance, films and food,” said Ambassador Chang.
Neeti Mohan & K-pop
The auditorium was packed with audiences who had booked their seats in advance through online registration with the Korean Cultural Centre India.
The free-entry event took off like clockwork at 3 pm and soon, K-pop enthusiasts and fans of Neeti Mohan were treated to a medley of popular Hindi songs and hit K-pop numbers.
The afternoon began with cover dance performances by an Indian girl group called ‘Girl Crush’. Next was a Korean B-Boying performance team, HEUNG, displaying a jaw-dropping mix of traditional elements of Korean music, dance and attire.
But the scene-stealer was Neeti Mohan, who got the audience on their feet, one song at a time.
“We are all here to witness, celebrate and strengthen the ties of our friendship. I always believe that K-pop culture is so popular, because India and Korea are culturally strong countries. We connect with music, culture and family. And we want to grow together,” Mohan said.
She also spoke a few sentences in Korean to greet the audience and began a verse from the song ‘Stay with Me’, which was the background track to a hit 2016 K-drama, Goblin.
Thereafter, she started performing her popular Hindi songs. At one point, even the Korean ambassador was prompted to dance when she began performing the song ‘Tune Maari Entriyaan’.
The final act of the day was K-pop boy group MustB, which was performing in India for the second time. In 2019, they performed in Nagaland. The group sang a slew of their songs, including their latest release ‘Rush’. Ending the evening with a flourish, MustB members’ razor-sharp dance moves switched to ‘Naatu Naatu’.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
Also read: Delhi celebrates South Korea-India ties with Korean Buddhist culture, free K-pop albums