Oh My Venus
Oh My Venus is a Korean romantic-comedy TV series first aired on the 16th of November 2015 and lasted for three months (last air date January 5, 2016, 16 episodes) which starred award-winning actor So Ji-sub (one of my favorite Korean actors who also topbilled one my favorite Korean flicks ‘Always’ which hit the theatres back in 2011 if I’m not mistaken) and Shin Min-a another popular soap and movie actress in Korea.
Kim Young-ho a.k.a John Kim’s (So Ji-sub) first encounter with Kang Joo-eun (Shin Min-a) was on a plane bound to Korea when the latter collapses for wearing a very tight corset to hide her flabs and yeah funny how it seems but it went into a life threatening situation hadn’t Kim Young-ho came to her rescue since he’s the only person aboard the plane with medical background. Just a fast throwback, Kang Joo-eun used to be a heart throb during her high school days because of her beauty and enviable figure. Kang Joo-eun had a boyfriend Im Woo-shik (Jung Gyu-woon) for 15 years, a former national swimmer who broke up with her and started hooking up with her former best friend Oh Soo-jin (Yoo In-young). Going back to present, Kang Joo-eun is now a successfull lawyer (the injustice that happened to her father served as an impetus for her to become a lawyer), 33 years old with quite a weight gain, lost her self-esteem and stopped caring for her body by binging in comfort foods.
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| So Ji-sub |
Kim Young-ho contacted Kang Joo-eun once again concerning her luggages because she was sent to the hospital as soon as their plane landed in Korea and Kim Young-ho took care of her luggages. Kang Joo-eun learned about Kim Young-ho’s true identity and the reason why he’s back in Korea and sort of blackmailed him if he will not help her lose weight. Kim Young-ho found out whilst Kang Joo-eun was in the hospital that she has Hypothyroidism that’s why she’s always tired (and fainted during one of their work out sessions) and is having extreme difficulty losing weight despite the rigorous exercises she’s been doing. Kim Young-ho felt pity for Kang Joo-eun after finding out she’s a very selfless woman who neglected herself because of her resolve to help her family financially what more after her boyfriend of 15 years, Im Woo-shik broke up with her. In the process Kang Joo-eun met and became friends with Kim Ji-woong (Henry Lau) an energetic Harvard grad/Joon-sung's manager and Jang Joon-sung (Sung Hoon), an MMA fighter alias "Korean Snake" personally trained by John Kim Young-ho a.k.a John Kim. Fast forward Young-ho and Joo-eun fell in love, the now beautiful Oh Soo-jin (she used to be an ugly duckling and unpopular during her high school days) came into view and coincidentially became Joo-eun’s boss who unfortunately hold a long time grudge towards her after Joo-eun set her up with an asshole geek and thought Joo-eun did it on purpose to make her look like a fool.
Sorry for these spoilers but Kim Young-ho and Kang Joo-eun got married, she lost weight and gained it back due to pregnancy. Oh Soo-jin forgave Kang Joo-eun after knowing the latter was eventually unaware of the things she accused her of and that she’s not after sabotaging her relationship with Im Woo-shik since she’s happy with Young-ho. Kim Young-ho revived his relationship with his father after being estranged for so long and it was a happy ending after all. Don’t worry I did not completely spill all the beans because it was a lengthy series believe me, 16 episodes for 1 season?! Oh My Venus was worth the watch because of the endless twists and turns. So, if you’re looking to binge watch Oh My Venus on Netflix make sure to finish it. And oh, I'm glad this soap shed some light on Hypothyroidism because it is an uncommon autoimmune disease which causes sudden and inexplicable weight gain amongst women. It's good that before someone gets judge for gaining weight it's best to get to the bottom of things first to know what causes weight gain and not always associate it right away with over-eating.
Now let’s switch to another Southeast Asian country, India.
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| Aamir Khan |
Aamir Khan is popular actor in India with tons of blockbuster movies in his sleeves. I first saw him on the movie PK, a 2014 Indian satirical comedy-drama about an alien who went to earth to fulfill a mission. I thought he has weird yet cool eyes because they’re huge and green (?) if I’m not mistaken which is quite unusual with asian men unless bi-racial of course and he isn’t. Also, what caught my attention was his muscular physique which is again not so common with Indian movie actors as he would pass for a fitness coach or a body builder and I meant that as a compliment. Anyways, I recognized him on this Indian movie Secret Superstar, wherein he played the character of a known womanizer who became the mentor of a budding young Indian Muslim female singer named Insu (Zaira Wasim) who became popular after posting a video of her singing on YouTube wearing a niqab. Insu wants to elude the typical life in which most young Indian girls are forced to which is to get married as young as 14 years and be void of their right to education and the privileges that sons are auspicious to benefit from. The film also dwelt on other social relevant issues in India such as the prevalence of domestic violence and lifetime effects of illiteracy amongst young Indian women as a result of marrying at a young age.
I don’t particularly like Indian horror movies because I find them too lengthy with excessive beating around the bush BUT their dramatic movies wow-ed me because they always have serious social ’issues’ to tackle and I really appreciate that they’re now using cinema as a venue to give voice to women who are considered as the ’weaker sex’ in their conservative culture along with their resolve to fight for equality by reaching out to a larger audience both locally and globally and I mean, isn’t this the true purpose of film-making, to send the message across more than entertain? Indian drama flicks never cease to move and amaze me every time. With that having said, my sissy and I decided to watch more movies with Aamir Khan on it because one or two is just isn’t enough since I found a sense of feminism in most movies he’s in.
Dhobi Ghat
(2011, Indian Drama Film)
I first heard about Dhobi Ghat during my stay in Singapore as it was one of the names of the train stations there (except it was spelt ‘Dhoby Ghaut’). Anyhow, I learned from the film Dhobi Ghat that, the word actually means a public laundry area which is usually a river-bank. Aamir Khan topbilled this movie as Arun and portrayed the role of an anti-social artist who had a rough marriage and a son who was taken by his ex-wife after the divorce. During the opening night of his exhibit he met Shai (Monica Dogra), a banker from New York on a sabbatical in India, the two had a night-marish thing but Arun did not reciprocate. Coincidentially the two had a common acquaintance, Munna (Prateik Babbar), a dhobi or washerman who works for both Arun and Shai.
Shai became friends with Munna and became more interested after learning that he’s also Arun’s dhobi. However, Munna is attracted to Shai but the latter is interested in Arun. It was actually a love story with social relevance to it as it also touched on poverty and the gap between people from various social classes. Arun by the way found a box with quite a few tapes inside and a ring which he also drew inspiration from in making his next art/masterpiece. He decided to watch tapes inside the box and found himself engrossed. The ending was a cliffhanger because Arun moved to a different apartment after realizing his current dwelling place was a muted witness to a suicide of a young woman who filmed her every life from the time her husband bought her a video camera down to her last recorded video prior to her suicide (by hanging). On the other hand, Munna decided to elude Shai but she was persistent to talk to him and In the end he also gave Arun’s new address to her which I think is a symbolism that he’s ready to let her go.
And last but not least off my Aamir Khan movie marathon, Dangal (pronounced as Dang-gal) which is a movie about women empowerment in India and breaking free from the cultural norm and stereotypes.
Dangal
(2016 | Indian Hindi-language/biographical sports drama)
The story was narrated by Omkar, Mahavir Singh Phogat’s nephew which an autobiographic movie about his life as a wrestler and his strong determination in turning his daughters into world renowned first Indian female wrestlers. Mahavir quit his wrestling career due to poverty. His father made him choose between his wrestling career or money and he chose the latter. He prayed for a son for years to pass on his legacy but he was blessed with six daughters instead which dampened his spirit and made him give up his dream of having a child who would pursue his dream of becoming an international wrestler. One day he went home with complaints from his neighbors because their sons were badly mauled. Looking at the neighboring boys’ black and blue faces he scolded his nephew outright but was shocked to know that his eldest daughters Geeta and Babita battered the teenage boys. Mahavir was delighted to know that not just one of of his daughters may still pursue his dreams but two of them.
Mahavir started training his daughters despite the mockery from everyone in his village for training girls in a sport they believe only belongs to the male specie. Geeta and Babita were both on the verge of giving up because of mental and physical exhaustion from their grueling hours of training and verbal beatings from their strict coach/father hadn’t they got the chance to attend one of their teenage friends’ wedding and she's barely fifteen years old. Geeta and Babita realized what a big mistake to give up wrestling after their friend told them how heartbreaking it is to be marry off to someone she never even met. Their poor friend told them a very jarring truth and stressed out what a loving father they have for giving them a chance in life and not just marry them off to a stranger. I was really moved when their father said that he wants his daughter to have a fair chance in life and be given the liberty to choose who they want to marry someday and not just become an ‘option.’ I wanna give him a hug for that and for being a radical person who wants to stand up for countless women who never got the chance to experience freedom in India because of some strict cultural belief they have towards women.
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| The real Geeta & Babita Phogat, Aamir Khan & Mahavir Singh Phogat |
Anyhow, both Geeta and Babita became wrestling champions on a state level under the care and training of their father who also helped them won countless medals. However, Geeta believed it’s time to go and compete internationally to bring home pride not just for her family and her hometown but for the country as well thus made her decide to go to National Sports Academy (NSA) in Patiala which made her father sad because it would mean she will train with a different coach. Geeta was overwhelmed when she started training at the NSA because of the huge difference she has grown accustomed to back home. The new training methods she learned at the NSA affected her mentality and attitude towards her father. Geeta wrestled her father when she came home to Balali after contesting the training methods her father taught her which her sister Babita strongly disagreed and stressed out her father’s techniques weren’t weak, he’s just gotten older and weaker because of his age. The gap between Geeta and his father lasted for quite awhile which resulted to the her countless defeats.
Now it’s Babita’s turn to go to the NSA, the only difference is that she carried with her the techniques she learned from their father. Babita convince her sister Geeta to humble herself and talk to their father, this move brought about excellent results to Geeta. Their father along with their cousin Omkar flew to Patiala to help the two girls with their training but NSA found out about it which nearly caused them their expulsion from the NSA had not for Mahavir, their father’s plea.
Fast forward, Geeta became the first Indian female wrestler to win gold at the Commonwealth Games (2010) and she thanked her father immensely for working with her all the way through more than her coach did at the NSA. The story was narrated in a humorous and heart warming way at the same time. This movie almost set me to tears lol.
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