New Delhi: Shilpa deliberately didn’t apply for a passport until two years ago. For the 38-year-old event manager in Ludhiana, possessing the legal document meant her family could ask her to explore a future in Canada—a prospect she wasn’t keen on pursuing. But things soon took a drastic turn. Not only did Shilpa get her passport issued last year, she’s also travelled to Thailand twice since then.
At the core of that change was a story of love, albeit not a conventional one. Shilpa had fallen in love with Thai queer dramas, especially with Thai actors Tawan Vihokratana and Thitipoom Techaapaikhun (popularly known as Tay and New). She has even started an Indian fan club of the two actors and attended a fan meeting, where she sat next to her beloved stars.
Thai queer dramas are seen as the next big pop cultural export from Asia, after the epochal popularity of K-dramas. These dramas fall under the larger oeuvre of Boys Love (BL) stories, which trace their origin to a particular genre of Japanese homoerotic media. Created by female fans of manga and anime in late 1970s Japan, these were romantic and/or sexual stories between two male characters.
Over time, the admiration for BL trickled down to other countries in Asia, with countries like Thailand, Taiwan and South Korea creating their own literature and content. Largely aimed at straight women, BL stories today exist in different forms—novels, webtoons, web dramas or movies. The Covid-19 lockdown pushed the popularity of BL drama to a new height, the subculture found its footing in the mainstream. It was also the time when a new generation of fans was introduced to this genre in India. They are mostly English-speaking, urban and exist in virtual spaces.
My friend sent another one.
From park street, Kolkata, India.#Win23rdBDProject #winmetawin𓃹 #winmetawin0221生日快乐 @WinmetawinFCIND thankyou for your hardwork💚 @winmetawin #GetWellSoonMetawin pic.twitter.com/HxeWHcUvw2
— tj (@obsessedwidexo) February 19, 2022
“People had a lot of free time during the pandemic. We wanted to experience new content,” Shilpa said. “These dramas are a break from regular life. People are shy to admit [they like BLs]. They often enjoy BL dramas in secret but they get to live their fantasy watching this content.”
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Loud and proud fandom
A legion of new fans has bolstered the BL fandom in India. Their numbers have swelled and they are organised, adopting practices of their international counterparts—sending gifts to their actors in Thailand, sending food trucks to their shooting locations, putting up billboard advertisements and doing charity events in India. The Indian fan clubs also participate in streaming the episodes of the BL drama or songs featuring their favourite actors. They also routinely reach out to fan clubs in Thailand to order merchandise in bulk.
This year in March, the fan community in India got the chance to display its might when two Thai actors, Mile Phakphum Romsaithong and Nattawin Wattanagitiphat (nicknamed Apo), came to attend the Dior fashion show at Gateway of India. The duo, who shot to global fame due to their roles in BL drama KinnPorsche, had nearly 200 fans waiting to welcome them at the Mumbai airport.
Y’all i’m also in both Mile and Apo’s stories videos taht they took from their phone 😭😭😭#MileApoFlyToMumbai pic.twitter.com/sszM7mxsHe
— Nick⁷🧃🏳️🌈 (@purplejuicebox7) March 28, 2023
This airport greeting was organised by Shilpa and the Mile and Apo India fan club. Her experience managing events came in handy. She flew down to Mumbai and ensured that fans had over 100 banners ready to greet the actors. She also got gifts delivered to them at their hotel.
It wasn’t Shilpa’s first brush with Thai actors. She first slipped into this world in 2019 and the same year she met Thai actor and singer Suppasit Jongcheveevat (Mew) when he came to Bodh Gaya on a personal trip.
They often enjoy BL dramas in secret but they get to live their fantasy watching this content.
– Shilpa
During her two trips to Thailand, she made sure to book an Airbnb next to the GGMTV building—the Thai production company behind some of the most popular Thai BL series, including 2gether, SOTUS, Dark Blue Kiss. She attended numerous fan meetings and even ran into one of her favourite actors, Tay, at a car park after one such event.
“Thai BL actors are more accessible. They hold a lot of fan meetings and we can also interact with their fan clubs in Thailand to prepare for events. That’s not the case in South Korea and Japan where there are many rules and regulations,” Shilpa said.
An Economist report, said that the Thai BL industry has “copied elements of the K-pop business model”, including heavy use of “fan services”—hosting meet and greet events and excessively promoting onscreen pairs of actors.
Anurima Chanda, a professor at North Bengal University and a BL drama watcher, said that BL drama lovers have watched K-drama but not always vice-versa.
“K-drama draws more universal viewership, while the specific genre of BL—with its portrayal of same-sex love—could be unpalatable for some,” she said.
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A booming industry
The BL industry has been a money-maker for the Thai government. Last year, Thailand said that its BL content market is worth more than 1 billion baht (approx. Rs 230 crore). BL Watcher, a fan website dedicated to listing such dramas, recorded that 24 Thai BLs have been released so far in 2023. In contrast, nine Japanese, 14 South Korean and only one Taiwanese BL drama have been released this year. Last year, the industry produced 56 BL dramas, South Korea was a far second with 18 dramas.
K-drama draws more universal viewership, while the specific genre of BL—with its portrayal of same-sex love—could be unpalatable for some
– Anurima Chanda
Most Thai dramas are easily accessible on YouTube. Before the pandemic, fans had to wait for days for translations of the episodes. Nowadays, there are immediate translations available.
Kerala-based English professor Lakshmi Menon, who has been reading BL literature for over 20 years, said that Japan would be the go-to name when it came to BL literature and content four years ago. Now, it’s Thailand.
“The volume of BL coming out from Thailand is huge. The country is also pushing BL, if not directly, as part of its soft power. There is a booming BL tourism industry,” she said.
A Delhi-based professional, who didn’t want to be named, went to Thailand last year for ‘BL drama tourism’.
The trip was planned around a fan meeting of the lead actors of the BL show I Told Sunset About You, in Bangkok. The 26-year-old’s initial plan got derailed because of work, so she improvised. She attended a concert by a Chinese pop star and visited Phuket to see the locations where the Thai drama was shot.
A veteran K-pop and K-drama fan, she has attended several concerts and events in Korea, Japan and the US. She said that it’s “easier to go to Thailand” and meet the actors.
😭😭😭😭😭😭 .
Finally Finally… Dreams come true ✨️..
🙌 @new_thitipoom 🐻❄🧜♂️
@Tawan_V 🐳✨️..
Able to give them both my love💙✨️✨️✨️✨️ ..
Thank you God ..
Thank you #TayNew ❣️🙏#SFxTheLittleMermaidDay2#เตนิว pic.twitter.com/ol7WK1Pmuc— TAY&NEW INDIA FANCLUB🇮🇳💕💙 (@TayNewIndiaFC) May 26, 2023
Ritika Mitra, a K-drama aficionado since 2010 and an avid K-pop fan, got into Thai BL dramas in 2019. She’s attended fan events and concerts in South Korea as well as Thailand.
In her experience, people who show interest in BL dramas are those “who have tolerance for different languages”. Ritika, who has also explored Chinese dramas, said that Thai BLs “can be repetitive”.
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Queer identity and handsome men
The oldest BL fans in India are those who have been exposed to the genre through manga and anime. Menon, in her article Desi Desu: Sex, Sexuality, and BL Consumption in Urban India which appeared in the book Queer Transfigurations: Boys Love Media in Asia, traced the history of anime and manga in India to the early 1990s.
Nippon Animation’s The Jungle Book (Janguru Bukku Shōnen Mōguri) was the first anime aired in India. It was dubbed in Hindi and broadcast on Doordarshan in 1992.
Later, English-dubbed anime series started flooding on TV channels like Cartoon Network and Animax India. Through an online survey of 20 women participants, Menon found that this was the route through which they were introduced to BL manga.
The professor struggled to find people for her survey during 2016 and 2017. But since then, a cataclysmic change has taken place in India’s BL fandom. In 2021, when she conducted another online survey, she got an overwhelming response from 500 people.
India now has homegrown BL content as well. Parvati Menon, a game producer, released a short English-language BL manga, titled The Way Home in 2017 on Facebook.
“The BL fandom in India has been there for a while. However, it was hard to find them because it was not something people would discuss in the open. It was their dirty little secret. But things have changed since the pandemic,” said Menon.
Shilpa, who handles Tay and New’s India fan club, interacted with other Indian fans of BL dramas for the first time on a Twitter group in 2019. At that time the group barely had 40 members. Today, her fan club alone has over 100 active members who contribute money for events and projects, and participate in projects.
When it comes to the Indian audience, Menon noticed contrary behaviours.
“There are also young people and teenagers who discover their LGBTQ identity through the content,” Menon said. It also breaks the negative stereotypes people have against the queer community, she added.
But there is also a possibility of fetish, she said, underlining that people might be consuming these series only for explicit content and nothing deeper.
A Kolkata-based fan, who wished to remain anonymous, initially started watching BL dramas in 2016 and after a break resumed in 2019. “In between 2016-2019, I realised I’m queer. After that, I developed a newfound appreciation for BL dramas. I was watching characters that were like me,” she said.
Best DAY with love my LIFE #TAYNEW 💙
.TOLD THEM NAMASTE M FRM INDIA
.SHOW THEM MY TATTOO OF THEIR NAME
.TAY SAID MY DRESS IS BEAUTIFUL
.STARSTRUCK WITH THERE AURA
. MAKE HEART ON HEAD 🫶 📷
. IN END TAY SAID SEE YOU AGAIN 🥺🙇♀️@NewwieeTayTawan#polcathejourney #เตนิว #โพก้า pic.twitter.com/NeLNxoZqoF
— BE KIND TO Everyone plz 🙏❤️ (@worldofshiii) June 26, 2022
Professor Chanda feels a part of the appeal is also freedom. “There’s an element of freedom in watching a love story which is devoid of the male gaze on women,” she said.
She termed it “reverse commodification” where the male has replaced the female and “the female is the one watching”.
But in her conversations with other viewers, she found that there was a more obvious answer for the appeal of BL dramas—handsome men.
“In K-dramas, we become fans of one actor. In BL dramas, we get to see two handsome men,” Shilpa said.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)