‘Flower Of Evil’ Becomes ‘Duranga’ As India’s First Korean Drama Remake

Popular Korean drama Flower of Evil, starring Lee Jun-ki and Moon Chae-won, has provided the inspiration for India’s first-ever remake of a Korean drama series.

Developed and produced by Studio Dragon in Korea, Flower of Evil was released on tvN in 2020. The drama, directed by Kim Chul-gyu and written by Yoo Jung-hee, tells the story of a seemingly perfect marriage that harbors some potentially dangerous secrets. In the drama Moon plays a detective, who must consider whether she still loves her devoted husband after learning everything she knows about his past is a lie. Things become even more complicated when he becomes a murder suspect

Remake rights for the drama were sold to Indian video streaming platform ZEE5 and the remake, Duranga, was produced by Mumbai-based production company, Rose Audio Visuals Pvt. Ltd. Directed by Pradeep Sarkar and Aijaz Khan, the nine-part series stars Gulshan Devaiah and Drashti Dhami. Duranga premieres on Aug. 19.

“We were certain from the beginning that this particular show would fit well with the Indian sensibilities because the Korean culture is a lot like Indian,” said Goldie Behl, a producer at Rose Audio Visuals Pvt. Ltd.

Korean dramas became even more popular in India during pandemic lockdown, with NetflixNFLX
recording a spike of 370 percent in viewership of k-dramas in 2020 over 2019.

“The vivacity of Asian culture and its inherent similarities is one of the key reasons for Korean content finding a huge fan-base in India,” said Nimisha Pandey, chief content officer, Hindi Originals, ZEE5. “With such high affinity, we are delighted to announce Duranga and we hope that Duranga receives as much love and success as Flower of Evil has with the audiences.”

Korean dramas have been remade in China, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, the US and the Philippines, but Duranga is a first for India.

“The remake of a Korean drama for the first time in India, which has different sentiment and content trend, is a remarkable achievement,” said Sarah Jang, the Studio Dragon producer who developed and produced the series. “I hope Flower of Evil, which was well-recognized for its unique combination of romance, thriller and immersive storyline, will gain popularity in India as well”

Flower of Evil is also getting a remake in the Philippines.

Studio Dragon produces around 30 series a year and distributes them on global platforms. In the past few years they have produced the dramas Goblin: The Lonely and Great God, Sweet Home, Crash Landing on You, Vincenzo, Hometown cha-cha-cha, Twenty-five, Twenty-one and Our Blues.