If Bollywood is increasingly finding success in films that serve up a side of wokeness with an otherwise formulaic love story (a la Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar and Satyaprem ki Katha) lately, they are not alone. Similar experiments in Chinese and Korean dramas have been money-spinners for some time now. Think back to Something in the Rain (2018) - where fighting sexual harassment in the workplace and the stigma around dating a younger man are both integral to a plot which, at its core, is a love story. The latest show in this modified romance genre comes to us from China - Hidden Love dropped on Netflix between June-July this year. The story of a teen with a crush on her older brother's college friend also brings up income inequality in China, drunk driving and hit-and-run, and the burden that the relatives of those convicted of a crime carry.
Chen Zheyuan plays Duan Jia Xu, a down-on-luck boy, in Hidden Love. After his father runs over a man while driving drunk, Jia Xu's life takes a turn for the worse - financial ruin and the death of his mother follow. Jia Xu moves to another part of China - Nanwu - to study. This is where we meet our heroine - then 14 years old - Sang Zhi played by Lusi Zhao. Sang Zhi's life is the opposite of Jia Xu's. With a loving family and a fair bit of wealth, she is protected from hardships. In the six-odd years over which this story unfolds, the main hardships she faces include her many food allergies, a bad physics score, one instance of bullying, one where a friend betrays her trust and one where Sang Zhi's boss is mildly jealous of her, but these are quickly resolved.
For the most part, Hidden Love counts on viewers getting swept up in the emotion dialled up with Mandarin pop songs that feel like a throwback to Disney movies. As is often the case with young-adult rom-coms, there is a sense of innocence here. The characters move through a fairly safe and sanitized world. Even when problems arise, nothing truly awful happens. Similarly when there is intimacy between the lead characters, these are scenes of how a pre-teen might imagine love to be - nothing too real bursts the bubble. This isn't a "will they, won't they get together" story - we know they will, and yet go along for the journey. Moments are engineered to make the heart flutter - as with many K-dramas, the internet is full of cuts and reels comprising the most syrupy and passionate parts of the show. At the end of 25 episodes, it may feel a bit long. But it is a fairytale that we knew was unfolding from the first frame.
(Chinese entertainment sites have even gone looking for hidden signals in the show and found two in the licence plates of cars key characters drive. Jia Xu's car number is 34520, which in Chinese reads as Sang Zhi, I love you! Another thing they point out, which is interesting from a business-of-movies point of view: The shooting for this series happened in Xiamen, which is poised to be a film industry hub in China with multiple studios and production houses - if this is anything like the Chinese industrial hubs in other sectors, one can imagine the scale.)
There's no taking away from the fact that the chemistry between the lead characters is one of the show's main driving forces. Having said that, Victor Ma as Sang Yan - Sang Zhi's brother and Xia Ju's college mate - brings another layer of complexity to the show. On a basic story level, his relationship with his sister and friend moves the plot along - he is the reason they meet, and keep meeting for years. But even beyond that, his relationship with his sister is the kind of TV sibling love that is likely to be remembered.
In interviews around the time when he launched his first novel, Hollywood actor Tom Hanks said actors most of the time don't know how things will turn out. On set, most people would be "bored out of their minds", he said. Each piece in itself could look and feel mundane or strange. The alchemy happens - when it happens - when everything comes together - the writing, the acting, the sets and costume design, make-up and locations, direction and production. It is a tall order. And yet time and again, Asian shows are manufacturing that magic, and taking global audiences along for the feels.
Hidden Love is streaming on Netflix.
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