Lee Min Ho

Considering I was already doing all sorts of crazy fan things from scouring random websites to watching and re-watching videos I don’t even understand (language barrier, you guys. Hangul is really difficult to learn, I am talking from experience :P), I decided that it’s high time I dedicated a blog post to him.

I have already mentioned in certain previous blog posts that the last three odd months have been trying times. Last month, on a day on which I had reached depths of despair, I decided to go check out ‘Boys of Flowers’ and the famed ‘Gu Jun Pyo’ that everybody was raving about in a bid to distract myself and retain some semblance of sanity. It took me some time to warm up to the drama and probably even more time to warm up to Gu Jun Pyo. The weird fangirling for Lee Min Ho’s intense portrayal of a spoilt and often very unlikeable but undeniably passionate rich boy started mid way through the series so much so that I went on to finish it and watch ‘Personal Taste’ and ‘The Heirs’ in quick succession.

In the last few weeks, the world that Min Ho creates in these dramas, being as far apart from my world as they are, has been my refuge. They say that the mark of a good actor is that he keeps the audience engaged as an actor and the mark of a brilliant one is that he makes the audience forget that what they are watching is make belief. In the hours that I spend watching these Korean shows, I live along with the characters Min Ho portrays, an invisible bystander to a world that is not mine, a world that has undeniable problems that are not mine, a world where there are heartbreaks galore but they are not mine and a world where there is ultimate triumph but it is not mine. And this is probably the process that helps me sustain and probably, heal.

It’s weird, isn’t it, for a 21 year old Indian to say that a Korean actor who acts exclusively in Korean serials and probably knows no word of English (It would be damn weird if he knew Indian languages, but that’s beside the point :P) creates worlds that help her retain sanity during what can probably be called a life crises? Immature, ridiculous and downright laughable? Maybe. But then, that is probably, the strength of acting and movies, you guys. Like they say that a good book can be your window to the world, a good movie/drama can be your window out of your world, for however short a time. And everyone needs that once in a while.

Haven’t you always wished that you had some way of contacting your favourite stars; people who not only provide us with entertainment but also often lead lives that have a lot to inspire? I don’t know if he has lead such a life and how much of his persona is acting and the successful imposition of a facade of his PR team and how much of it is real. But, for me, it is not his life that inspires, it is his acting and the stories he conveys and the worlds he creates (Is there any difference between the two, you ask? I really don’t know.) But whatever it is, something about what he does with his life has acted as a thread for me to hold on to in this tumultuous phase in life and for that, I am grateful. As whimsical and pointless this post is in the large ocean of fan websites  and news articles and general adoration that you receive, thank you for just being, Lee Min Ho.