So you’re BTS ARMY, can’t stay with out your each day dose of Choi Nam-ra or Vincenzo Cassano on Netflix and know your ramyeon from the Japanese ramen simply by taking a look at it. If you’ve been caught by the ‘Hallyu’, like numerous others in India, now you’ve another excuse to experience the Korean wave.

The premise is easy. You have gorged on flavoursome Korean dishes whereas having fun with the storytelling strategies, emotional depth or attention-grabbing plotlines of Ok-dramas on OTT platforms. Now, in the event you had been to recreate the identical magic, however on a much bigger platform like cineplex, you’d clearly give it an excellent thought, proper?

That’s what PVR INOX is doing—getting globally acclaimed Korean motion pictures to the massive display 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, govt director, PVR INOX, on getting Sundance Film Festival-breakout Past Lives for India launch.

Past Lives, by first-time director Celine Song, is an English-Korean relationship drama that has earned rave opinions with critics hailing it as the most effective motion pictures of the yr. After releasing within the US earlier in June, it hit Indian theatres on July 7. Past Lives will probably be adopted by the screening of different well-liked Korean movies within the close to future, provides Bijli.

Korean motion pictures have gained important traction in India, fascinating audiences with their compelling narratives and distinctive cultural components. The international reputation of Korean dramas and the wealthy tapestry of their tradition have transcended boundaries, attracting a rising viewers base in India.

Past Lives isn’t any totally different. The central characters within the movie, Nora and Hae Sung, are two deeply linked childhood pals who’re separated after Nora’s household immigrates to the US from South Korea. They are reunited in New York twenty years later. During that one fateful week, the duo confront notions of future, love and the alternatives that they should make—to steer a life whereas shedding one other.

PVR INOX’s large guess on Korean motion pictures comes at a time when there was a large drop in theatre-going audiences within the nation, particularly put up 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 introduced that it has plans to shut round 50 cinema screens over the subsequent six months. Clarifying on the event, 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 provides.

Talking about the best way ahead, 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.”