Chemistry lesson from The King of Dramas

I have for the last two weeks been listening to "Blind in Love" on a loop. Its part of my withdrawal symptoms! I am so missing the most amazing k-drama made in such a long time. The King of Dramas. Starring Kang Myung Min and Jung Ryeo Won, this drama became my crack from Day 1. And one of the things it made me wanto to talk about is the rare and intangible thing called "chemistry" is. No amount of good script, setting, music,  good looking leads can help if you dont have chemistry between the two leads. There is no reason or logic for it. Either there is chemistry or there isn't.

And leading the list is a caouple who defintely had it. Anthony Kim and Lee Go Eun. Kim Bong Dal and his sweet potato.
I had heard about this actor and how he was so amazing in White Tower but had never got around to watching anything with him in it.Then I watched Ep 1 of this drama. And rewatched it. And watched it again. I was in love. With Anthony Kim/ Kang Myung Min. For me both are the same. I adored him in the drama and the BTS just sealed my love for him. City Hall was one of the earliest dramas that I watched ( my kdrama obsession starting in 2007) and since then I have been an absolute Cha Seung Won fan. Sure there was an ocassional flutter named Shin Ha Kyun, Kim Rae Won, Oguri Shun, Kim Soo Hyun but at the end of a bad day it was only Cha Seung Won.

But in 2012, came Anthony Kim. The Eyes. The Voice. The Smile. Oh my god! Its like I discovered the purpose of my watching kdramas. It was to watch this giant of an actor on my screen. All the good, bad and ugly of k-dramas that have been in my life, have been to prepare me to watch this man on screen. I started this post to rave about him but find myself short of words. All I can say is I LOVE HIM!

I always liked Jung Ryeo Won. I remember rewatching "Which Star are you from?" not becasue its a great drama but for the natural warm chemistry she had with Kim Rae Won. You could believe that they like each other and will have a nice warm life together. I have heard raves about her performance in History of Salaryman but am yet to watch it.

But in KoD, when you have Anthony Kim and Lee Go Eun on screen together, you understand what sublime chemistry is. These two define the word and then redfine it all over again every moment they are on screen together. More than the said are the unsaid moments between the two. 

1. Lee Go Eun visits the sets of her drama for the first time and you can see the happiness in her eyes.The moment she gets on the stage and starts pretending she is on the award stage, we starts smiling because we have all done that haven't we? practiced our oscar/grammy/filmfare face and speech in frot of the mirror?). And then the camera swings to Anthony who watches her and gives a sudden smile. Its a smile of pure affection and so sudden from this closed poker face guy, that you are not prepared for the wave of delight that washes over you.

2. The part where Anthony makes Go Eun act out the pathetic melo kiss scene in front of the World production guys.There is a moment when he is trying to demonstrate how abrupt the kiss in the scene is as  there is no chemistry and gets close to her face. There is a beat when the disdain in his eyes gives way to awareness (again Kang Myung Min is god of acting!) and its in that one second that the heat turns up so high!

3. "What are you confused about?" He waits and watches her fumble. 'Do you like me? But that would never happen". Smiling he steps away only to be stopped by her voice."Representative" 'What?". He turns with a smile and question in his eyes. She continues to look at him , unable to say anything but her gaze saying everything, you actually see him react as if she actually said the words aloud.

4. The guy sleeps with his tie on. But is totally comfortable with her being physical with him. Her constant back thumps during the Kim Bong Dal scene, pulling him into the production dinner and holding onto his arm for quite some time, pulling her agaisnt him during the "Yeobo!" scene and finally my favourite in the truck, she is nestled against his chest and wants to talk about something warm to keep the cold out. He justs holds her and says"And what else? tell me". There is absolute natural comfort of long time lovers and friends between them. 

4. There is adorable bickering before the confession.
    " Don't tell me those are tears?" "What tears. All this smoke is killing my eyes!' 
    " Don't smile. You'll grow on me"
    " Is it your hobby to spy on people?"

5. There is the squeeworthy " I love you, you know it but I am still going to tease you" bickering which is the best kind.
    " You can't sleep coz you are thinking of me right""Not at all"" huh! Why do I like a heartless guy like you?" "But now you can't take it back!"
" So vulgar!"
"So when did you like me?""I dont't remember"." But I told you everything. So despicable" "Are you getting that now?"   

6. And ofcourse then there is the Kiss! Guys line up and take notes! That is how a man kisses. That is how long a man kisses. This is how a man holds you when he kisses a girl. And that is how a man looks at the girl after kissing her.

ok.calling all the ppl with the ability to see the lighter side of being politically incorrect.check out cyanide andn happiness.i recently discovered the comic strip and trust me even when u think u should be offended u will be taken in by surprise by the guaffaw that will come rumbling out of your stomach.

ok.confession time.i am a big time baby ogler. i lurve looking at babies.my palms actually itch to snatch the one footers into my arms.ofcourse the fact that their parents may not appreciate such excessive demonstration of affection from a stranger and might misconstrue it, deters me.or rather it makes my frined clamp onto me till the cherub passes away to a safe distance.Cosmo tells me that it is my clock ticking away. possible and probable. but am yet to discover where this clock is. i sit in the loo ( the only place in mumbai where u can hope for some semblence to silence) and try to trace any faint tick-tocks but no success till date.the only sounds were the strains of dhoom 2 from the neighbours abode.and as i have been unable to detect this timekeeper and in turn plug out its batteries, i continue to gawk at babies.the moms at first smile with pride at the obvious envious green tinge of my face at beholding ther perfection of their bundle of joy.but as i continue to look wistfully at their cradles, vague thoughts of baby snatchers' stories make the smile fade a little. the unease builds and determinely they shift the kid onto the other shoulder and sweep away.The dads intially love the attention that playing the sensitive metrosexual man ( the type of men, that the mags tell them, handles babes with the competence of a mid-wife) gets them.
30 secs into the stare - hmm she is checking me out under the guise of cooing over the baby!well obviously! why not! i am secure and confident enough to let the pooh bear diaper bag hang off my shoulder!
10 mins into the stare - the babe is still looking.nice going man!u still got it.wonder where the missus is?
15 mins into the stare - ok the woman is fixated on my shoulder.did the kid dribble there again.where is the wife?
20 mins into the stare - that crazy b#$%h is stalking me.where is my cell?
by that time panic has set in and they head straight to the parking lot.
and all this time i just keep gazing at the pooper, wondering what the plump cheeks and rotound bottom would feel like in my arms.

When the cat is away.....

Ever heard of the phrase "When the cat is away, the mice shallplay".That has never been more true than in my office this week.The Boss- henceforth referred to as She-who-must-not-be named and the boss'sboss(he-who-never-speaks-to-us-commoners) are away on leave. The generalfeeling of lightness in the office was enhanced when a lil' birdie flewaround whispering that she was in fact out of the country.The joyousnews was confirmed by a well pretended nonchalant call by one of theBand 7s. a 7 is mid way b/w the commoner (jr mgmt) and royalty (srmgmt). The morning 10min coffee break extended to a 1hr brunch. Andofcourse the lunch was a lavish 3 hr biryani feastivity. Now u don'texpext us to eat lunch and not feel sleepy.being conscientious employeesit wouldn't do for us to fall asleep in office so we just had to had togo for the afternoon coffee break too.was the wall clock slowtoday?probably abashed at the number of stares it got today. Normally itwould bear furtive glances preceeded and followed by an equally furtivelook at the Boss' cubicle.Today boldness was the order of the day.Therewas nothing subtle about the looks it received.There was lack of neitherfrequency nor number.

When things don't go right,When there is no ray of light,Tell yourself - Go on, THIS IS LIFE!
When world is not a paradise,When your confidence dies,Tell yourself - Go on, THIS IS LIFE!When there is competition to face,When you are lagging behind in the race,
Tell yourself - Go on, THIS IS LIFE!
When others don't respect you,When you're not amongst the admirable few,Tell yourself - Go on, THIS IS LIFE!
When your destination is miles apart,When you don't know where to start,Tell yourself - Go on, THIS IS LIFE!
Even though all this happensjust have faith in self & face the life with smile,things will surely change one daybecause as said "THIS IS LIFE!
Tell yourself - Go on, THIS IS LIFE!
Even though all this happensjust have faith in self & face the life with smile,things will surely change one daybecause as said "THIS IS LIFE!

Intro

In my early 30s, single and ardent fan of Garfield, I love reading, watching dramas and movies. I live my life , impartially dividing my waking hours between my office laptop and home laptop. I do own a a flat in Mumbai (casue of the sudden monthly dwindle in my account ) but seem to spend less time there than I spend in my office loo.