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Shantanu Maheshwari opens on his first trip to Korea: People in Seoul touched my soul
Talking to us, Shantanu Maheshwari reflects on his recent experience of his first trip to Korea, Love In Vietnam's underwhelming response and future plans
Actor Shantanu Maheshwari recently took his first trip to Seoul, Korea as his film Love in Vietnam was screened there, and he has returned to India as a lover of Korean culture. "People in Seoul touched my soul. I felt very welcomed. They have another level of fascination for Indian cinema which I had no idea about. They love Indian music. I met many influencers there and the music they were listening to was actually remixes of Indian songs," he shares.
Having met the content creators in Korea, the actor was very impressed with the influencer culture there. "They have a very organised influencer culture, and even have a dedicated association for it. Also, there is a warmth amongst the community, which is not to say that it isn't there in India but here we also have a healthy competition," he says, adding that one of the interactions he remembers is with the X:IN crew, which also has India’s first K-pop artiste Aria: “When Aria got selected, I wanted to reach out and congratulate her as it’s a big deal to make it in a foreign land and an alien language, but I couldn’t. There, I got to meet her and tell her how proud I was of her achievement, and even she told me she had seen me in Dil Dosti Dance.”
While Shantanu Maheshwari admits there are many cultural similarities between Korea and India, he feels Korean people are a bit more shy. “Also, their fashion is different and quite monochrome. If the trend there is black, you will see everyone wearing black, whereas we have a lot of vibrancy in terms of colours in India,” he says.
The actor also got to explore the city as a tourist as he visited their townhall, and the statue of King Sejong the Great, the man who created the Korean alphabet Hangul. As for the food, he admits it’s a challenge to find the right food for vegetarians like him. “I explored a few vegan restaurants and cafes. But I have an extreme case as I am a vegetarian and lactose intolerant, but the spices there are quite nice,” he shares.
Shantanu feels happy that he got to travel to the country with his work as he feels it helped him meet the right people. While Love In Vietnam got honoured in Korea, it didn’t fare well in India. Ask him about it and he says, “It is not something in my hand as if we don’t get screens, I can’t do anything about it. I am not that big to change that scenario, I have to accept it. And I know that my choices aren’t wrong, and nobody criticised my work in the film, so I am looking at that aspect of it. Of course, you feel bad that it didn’t work in your own country while it’s getting appreciated internationally. But every film has its own destiny.”
After having done an Indo-Vietnamese film, is there a Korean project on the cards too? "I am open to working there. Many local directors who came to saw our film there, came up on their own and said that if they will have the requirement of an Indian boy in their story, they will call me. I know language is going to be a barrier, but I want to explore as I love working with different cultures. I would love to explore not just Korea but also China and other film industries as well," he says.
