‘Made In Korea’ movie review: An earnest Priyanka Mohan shoulders a cursory Hallyu excursion

After more than four years of watching K-Dramas and seeing K-Pop dominate my annual Spotify Wrapped playlists, I finally had the chance to visit South Korea last year. When I set foot in Seoul, it felt like being in a simulation of sorts as everywhere I looked, I could spot posters of Byeon Woo-seok. Along with that, walking into convenience stores and picking up ramen and banana milk felt exciting, and every time I chanced upon a public landmark that I had spotted on a show, I clicked a dozen photos. 

However, in Made In Korea, when Shenba (Priyanka Mohan) steps into Seoul, the circumstances might not be ideal. Throughout the duration of her stay there, we don’t quite get a sense of what it is that fascinated her about South Korea, or K-Culture in the first place. There is one song later in the film that shows her visiting all the popular haunts; the Namsan tower and the Lotte World amusement park, but it all feels too fleeting. Why does she love those shows? What is her favourite K-pop group? We never really know. 

Growing up in a picturesque town in the hills in Tamil Nadu, Shenba first learns about South Korea during a school fancy dress competition and is fascinated with its possible historical link to her state. This is then a segway into everything K-Culture; she has posters of Lee Min-ho on her bedroom walls, bops to K-pop and of course, tries to learn the language as well. While it makes for a refreshing change that her starting point is this fascination with history, there is little else to go by, even when she does land in Seoul. I smiled during a scene where Shenba walks into a restaurant and confidently asks for a So-Maek(a soju and beer cocktail), something she has undoubtedly picked up from her K-Drama viewing. These moments are few in number. 

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(L to R) Priyanka Mohan as Shenbagam, Hye-Jin Park as Yeon-Ok in ‘Made in Korea’
| Photo Credit:
Sheik Fareeth/Netflix

In an interview to The Hindu, director Ra Karthik said that his experiences as a first-timer in Seoul came in handy while shooting the film. These scenes are also the most interesting ones in the film, where we follow Shenba navigate being in a foreign city for the first time. She has to learn to stand in queue for a bus for instance—concepts alien to most of us even in an Indian city. Aided by a kind stranger, a vlogger who soon becomes her first friend in the city, Shenba soon takes up work as a helper in a mansion, tending to a bedridden grandma (Park Hye-jin). 

The fact that Made In Korea chooses to eschew romance and focuses on how Shenba and her elderly friend set out to reclaim their identity and embark on a journey of self-discovery makes for a welcome writing choice. Many years ago, in the 2013 Hindi film Queen, we saw Rani (Kangana Ranaut) re-discover life in Europe. Shenba’s pursuits in Korea aren’t as adventurous, but we still want to root for her. 

What could have been a straightforward, wholesome journey of rediscovering oneself and building a community however, feels complicated with the addition of multiple plotpoints. Yes, it is rather convenient how a restaurant quickly comes together, but it would have been more than fulfilling to just watch them thrive at this. We are instead fed another arc about her friends wanting to succeed as singing superstars all of a sudden. I would have much rather enjoyed seeing Shenba trying out more of her recipes like the garlic kimchi fried rice. 

Propping all of this up is an earnest Priyanka Mohan, who plays the sweet Shenba with conviction. There’s genuine warmth when she and Hye-jin share screen space, but one wishes the supporting cast also had roles that were written better. We know of them only as acquaintances and remain quite unsure of why the group came together or what they bond over. 

As the world embraces the K-Wave a little more with each passing day, discovering a new show, and eagerly waiting for a favourite K-pop group’s comeback, the time feels ripe for a cross-cultural project like this one; a film where the protagonist has a dream shared by scores of people across the world. Made In Korea has its heart in the right place and the premise feels fitting; it is the execution that falters. 

Made In Korea is currently streaming on Netflix