Better late than never is what I always say! Haha.
That’s so cool and funny, though! Celebrities probably appreciate being out and about without being recognized and/or bombarded with fans, but I’m sure they also feel a tinge of disappointment when no one recognizes them, let alone ask them if they could take a picture of them and not WITH them! Haha.
Hahaha I am sure… When they came to India for that show they were more disappointed that no one recognizes them even when they are out in such crowded spaces, whereas they can’t even step into a departmental story in Korea without being recognized…
I felt the show went in wrong direction. They should not have gone to India gate, all they had to do is go to any big malls and did a song there. Am pretty sure 3 out of 10 would have identified them.
The target is urban youth. They completely missed their target audience, I felt.
Making Exo take a pic and insisting he did not do it right was really hilarious 😂😂
I was wondering what curses would a exo famgirl be screaming at that uncle!
The show definitely took many wrong decisions- specially at the conception/planning stage… For starters, just a heads-up to the fans would have been worth it! Like not personal messages or anything but maybe an update on KBS World Youtube page.. India is such a big country and fans are really scattered… You can’t just randomly reach a city and then generalize it by saying that there are NO fans at all…
I however do not think the mall thing would have worked. I am from Delhi and I have personally never met a kpop fan… But then again it is not as if I know everyone in Delhi :P.. What about you? Is kpop famous in your state?
Another problem might be that they wouldn’t have been working with a good budget.. Random singing in malls doesn’t work in India as it might become a law and order problem. I think, one has to make special arrangements first.. Mall singing however would have helped them make many new fans for sure though 🙂
I suffered from so much second-hand embarrassment on Suho’s behalf! 😛 Exo fangirls would sure have been screaming! 😛 I am sure SHINee fangirls would have been proud though! The only fan to identify them all was a Minho fan if I remember correctly..
Actually I read couple of blogs on that.
Fans actually knew about it and there were many who were waiting in airport overnight. But they were under strict orders to not get attention of the stars and also to not follow them or approach them. Its like the production team forced the situations to create a impression that no one knows them. I will try to find the blog and link you. The fans sounded really upset.
And more than kpop, I feel kdramas are more common. A person may not know all members of exo but in a mall, chances of someone guessing they might be Korean is very high.
Well they went to Yash Raj Films, am sure they could have figured out a way to sing in malls. We do have events happening every weekend or other.
Am not a huge kpop fan. Whatever kpop I know is because of dramas, but there is a fb group of about 1000 members just for my state! And they are not casual fans, they are very serious where they type in Korean, discuss about kpop dance classes and meet ups. I was surprised myself. And there have been korean meet ups occurring every six months in Chennai at the official korean cultural centre!
When its so much in Chennai, am pretty sure there would have been so much more in Mumbai and these people just didn’t even look into those possibilities. They wanted to give off the impression that India is a bad market. And if not for that SHINee fan, am sure all stars would have thought the same!
News article on korean fan meeting organized by the Inko Centre. I felt they should have approached the cultural centre rather than Embassy. They could have had chance to hear about fans. And its the center that organizes kpop competition to fans! And they even have movie screenings. I will post further links in new message. sorry for the spam again ! 🙁
They could have done something great with the show and promoted Hallyu. After coming across all these news articles, I feel the Korean popularity in India is way bigger than I thought to be. It can never be mainstream, India is way too diverse for that. But it already has a very strong cult factor which growing day by day.
Woah! really? I wonder why? I mean it was the perfect opportunity to explore and enter such a big market! And if exploited fully, India would be a more lucrative destination than Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore etc combined! Sounds like a missed opportunity… I might have vested interest in saying this though.. because once kpop enters, I am hoping that Korean actors start conducting fan- meetings here 😛
Kdramas are definitely more popular. As I mentioned, I haven’t met any kpop fans, but I have met many people who love kdramas and have been watching them for years….
The Korean Cultural Centre here in Delhi also seems to be a popular spot for meetups but I have never tried… I once went to a function organized by them at a mall, and there was a group performing some b-boying moves and this group of girls standing right at the front were singing along in Korean and screaming ‘oppa’ at the top of their voices 😀 I thought they must be the students who were studying Korean as the Cultural Centre 😛
Oh I just remembered that the Centre had a huge banner wishing Jackson of GOT7 on his birthday… So yeah, I am sure there is a big, as yet undiscovered by me, group of kpop fans in Delhi too…
I am mostly a kdrama fan myself, but have just started discovering some kpop songs… Still not a fan though 🙂
Thanks for all these links! (The limit is actually one link per comment)
The first link makes me FURIOUS! And frankly I don’t understand the reasoning behind such a move! It just screams STUPIDITY in all it’s moves! The fans had every right to be annoyed and hurt… To not be able to see their idols is one thing but to be denied existence even when you are a large group of people must suck! I wonder why the Consulate General agreed to it…
Also, what did they gain by such a move? The show doesn’t look like a hit and they lost the perfect opportunity to further relationships between the two country! I don’t even understand it from the business POV! I mean you are basically losing out on TONS of money!!
Also, I really didn’t kpop was so famous here… Kpop Festival finale is happening in Delhi this time with a kpop group ‘Lucente’ debuting in India and judging the finale of the contest.. I wish I could go check it out but I have exams coming..
ObsessedMuch
May 20, 2017 at 12:06 AM
For people who watched Exciting India and wondered if someone ever later realised that they were asking Korean celebrities to take their pictures! 😂
ObsessedMuch
May 20, 2017 at 12:08 AM
Uh… do instagram links not work?
https://www.instagram.com/p/BUSbdKclGiH/
chingu
May 20, 2017 at 12:14 AM
Better late than never is what I always say! Haha.
That’s so cool and funny, though! Celebrities probably appreciate being out and about without being recognized and/or bombarded with fans, but I’m sure they also feel a tinge of disappointment when no one recognizes them, let alone ask them if they could take a picture of them and not WITH them! Haha.
ObsessedMuch
May 20, 2017 at 12:22 AM
Hahaha I am sure… When they came to India for that show they were more disappointed that no one recognizes them even when they are out in such crowded spaces, whereas they can’t even step into a departmental story in Korea without being recognized…
divyrus
May 20, 2017 at 2:29 PM
I felt the show went in wrong direction. They should not have gone to India gate, all they had to do is go to any big malls and did a song there. Am pretty sure 3 out of 10 would have identified them.
The target is urban youth. They completely missed their target audience, I felt.
Making Exo take a pic and insisting he did not do it right was really hilarious 😂😂
I was wondering what curses would a exo famgirl be screaming at that uncle!
ObsessedMuch
May 20, 2017 at 10:12 PM
The show definitely took many wrong decisions- specially at the conception/planning stage… For starters, just a heads-up to the fans would have been worth it! Like not personal messages or anything but maybe an update on KBS World Youtube page.. India is such a big country and fans are really scattered… You can’t just randomly reach a city and then generalize it by saying that there are NO fans at all…
I however do not think the mall thing would have worked. I am from Delhi and I have personally never met a kpop fan… But then again it is not as if I know everyone in Delhi :P.. What about you? Is kpop famous in your state?
Another problem might be that they wouldn’t have been working with a good budget.. Random singing in malls doesn’t work in India as it might become a law and order problem. I think, one has to make special arrangements first.. Mall singing however would have helped them make many new fans for sure though 🙂
I suffered from so much second-hand embarrassment on Suho’s behalf! 😛 Exo fangirls would sure have been screaming! 😛 I am sure SHINee fangirls would have been proud though! The only fan to identify them all was a Minho fan if I remember correctly..
divyrus
May 20, 2017 at 11:35 PM
Actually I read couple of blogs on that.
Fans actually knew about it and there were many who were waiting in airport overnight. But they were under strict orders to not get attention of the stars and also to not follow them or approach them. Its like the production team forced the situations to create a impression that no one knows them. I will try to find the blog and link you. The fans sounded really upset.
And more than kpop, I feel kdramas are more common. A person may not know all members of exo but in a mall, chances of someone guessing they might be Korean is very high.
Well they went to Yash Raj Films, am sure they could have figured out a way to sing in malls. We do have events happening every weekend or other.
Am not a huge kpop fan. Whatever kpop I know is because of dramas, but there is a fb group of about 1000 members just for my state! And they are not casual fans, they are very serious where they type in Korean, discuss about kpop dance classes and meet ups. I was surprised myself. And there have been korean meet ups occurring every six months in Chennai at the official korean cultural centre!
When its so much in Chennai, am pretty sure there would have been so much more in Mumbai and these people just didn’t even look into those possibilities. They wanted to give off the impression that India is a bad market. And if not for that SHINee fan, am sure all stars would have thought the same!
divyrus
May 20, 2017 at 11:59 PM
Am not sure how many links are allowed, my message got deleted! 🙁
Here is a fan’s account:
She sounds really upset though. https://criticalkpop94.wordpress.com/2015/02/03/fan-accounts-fluttering-india-kyu-line-and-the-unfriendly-pd/
divyrus
May 21, 2017 at 12:04 AM
Sorry for the spam! 🙁
Am not able to post multiple links!
http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/unravelling-india-s-obsession-with-korean-pop/story-lbKuhT6ifQDAYotU97zr2L.html
News article on korean fan meeting organized by the Inko Centre. I felt they should have approached the cultural centre rather than Embassy. They could have had chance to hear about fans. And its the center that organizes kpop competition to fans! And they even have movie screenings. I will post further links in new message. sorry for the spam again ! 🙁
divyrus
May 21, 2017 at 12:05 AM
Movie Screenings and Kpop competitions:
https://www.facebook.com/koreanculturalcentreindia/
And as I understand, N-SONIC did a India tour even the same year. So fans were all more upset that it did not even get a mention.
divyrus
May 21, 2017 at 12:08 AM
And it even came as surprise that there were so many expats living in Chennai. They could have interviewed or met a couple of them in Mumbai at least.
http://www.thebetterindia.com/89171/chennai-connection-korea-seoul-history-hyundai/
They could have done something great with the show and promoted Hallyu. After coming across all these news articles, I feel the Korean popularity in India is way bigger than I thought to be. It can never be mainstream, India is way too diverse for that. But it already has a very strong cult factor which growing day by day.
ObsessedMuch
May 20, 2017 at 11:55 PM
Woah! really? I wonder why? I mean it was the perfect opportunity to explore and enter such a big market! And if exploited fully, India would be a more lucrative destination than Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore etc combined! Sounds like a missed opportunity… I might have vested interest in saying this though.. because once kpop enters, I am hoping that Korean actors start conducting fan- meetings here 😛
Kdramas are definitely more popular. As I mentioned, I haven’t met any kpop fans, but I have met many people who love kdramas and have been watching them for years….
The Korean Cultural Centre here in Delhi also seems to be a popular spot for meetups but I have never tried… I once went to a function organized by them at a mall, and there was a group performing some b-boying moves and this group of girls standing right at the front were singing along in Korean and screaming ‘oppa’ at the top of their voices 😀 I thought they must be the students who were studying Korean as the Cultural Centre 😛
Oh I just remembered that the Centre had a huge banner wishing Jackson of GOT7 on his birthday… So yeah, I am sure there is a big, as yet undiscovered by me, group of kpop fans in Delhi too…
I am mostly a kdrama fan myself, but have just started discovering some kpop songs… Still not a fan though 🙂
ObsessedMuch
May 21, 2017 at 12:36 AM
Thanks for all these links! (The limit is actually one link per comment)
The first link makes me FURIOUS! And frankly I don’t understand the reasoning behind such a move! It just screams STUPIDITY in all it’s moves! The fans had every right to be annoyed and hurt… To not be able to see their idols is one thing but to be denied existence even when you are a large group of people must suck! I wonder why the Consulate General agreed to it…
Also, what did they gain by such a move? The show doesn’t look like a hit and they lost the perfect opportunity to further relationships between the two country! I don’t even understand it from the business POV! I mean you are basically losing out on TONS of money!!
Also, I really didn’t kpop was so famous here… Kpop Festival finale is happening in Delhi this time with a kpop group ‘Lucente’ debuting in India and judging the finale of the contest.. I wish I could go check it out but I have exams coming..
kaybee
May 20, 2017 at 9:43 AM
*laughing uncontrollably* This is too funny!!!
ObsessedMuch
June 4, 2017 at 8:22 AM
This is the thread I referred to in my last comment on your wall… I was talking about the first link @divyrus shared above..