Top Star By Luck [EN]: Chapter 165

165.

“Bollywood, you say.”

Director Shim Sung-bo blinked, a puzzled look on his face. “You mean movies produced in the Mumbai region of India?”

Bollywood.

It was a term referring to the rapidly growing Indian film market, and Joo Hana nodded confidently, as if she had steeled her resolve.

“Yes, I thought incorporating a Bollywood style into this project could be one approach.”

“Hmm.”

Bollywood style in a movie primarily distributed in Hollywood, of all things.

*Wouldn’t a musical be better?*

He didn’t quite understand, but *could she have something in mind?*

Director Shim Sung-bo probed her intentions.

“I trust you have an explanation.”

“Of course.”

Joo Hana began to explain. “Bollywood movies have different formulas than existing Hollywood movies.”

“You’re talking about the music.”

“Yes, usually in movies that use music as a theme, the music itself is the focus.”

In that moment, Lee Min-ki accurately predicted what Joo Hana was aiming for.

At the same time, the words involuntarily escaped his lips.

“In Bollywood, music *is* the format.”

“Yes, you’re right, Min-ki.”

Joo Hana smiled, agreeing with him.

“In Bollywood, music is one with the movie. It’s not separate from the story. You can think of it as another protagonist leading the work along with the visuals.”

“Hmm.”

Director Jin Joo-yeon, now seeing the framework, slowly opened her mouth.

“What you’re saying, Hana, is that we should use the music itself as the main direction, almost like a Disney animated movie.”

There was even a hint of interest in Director Jin Joo-yeon’s words.

*That was the answer.*

Joo Hana felt a small thrill at the reaction and nodded briskly.

“Yes, we don’t necessarily need to make music the core of the story. It’s just that music constantly appears in important scenes, and the characters do light dances, comprehensively showing it to the audience.”

Indeed.

Bollywood movies had a close connection to musicals, and that was music.

Simply mixing dance and music into important scenes would naturally give the movie its own unique flavor.

However, there was also a difference from musicals.

The music was merely a directing element, not the genre itself.

*‘Hana even watches Bollywood movies.’*

Lee Min-ki was also slightly surprised.

Even among people in Korea who like movies, very few watch Bollywood movies. At most, they might have seen two or three that were hits in Korean theaters.

Of course.

*‘I didn’t know that what I watched at Min-ki’s house would be helpful.’*

For Joo Hana herself, Lee Min-ki was the culprit who forced her to fill her brain with input.

*‘Min-ki hasn’t missed any movies, it seems.’*

She felt the wall of absolute input.

She had seen every movie that Lee Min-ki had seen.

Movies that Lee Min-ki hadn’t seen?

*‘…Do those even exist?’*

He knew everything he watched.

From the director’s characteristics to the actor’s characteristics, to the intentions of the directing in the work, he seemed to know it all perfectly.

It was as if every movie he watched was a review.

She felt a great wall in the face of his overwhelming analytical skills.

As the same actor, she even felt a difference in level.

But.

Thanks to him, she learned a lot.

*‘Thank you, Min-ki.’*

Director Shim Sung-bo asked, seemingly puzzled by Joo Hana’s opinion.

“Isn’t it a waste to use music simply as a directing tool? Especially with William Lockhart.”

“Well, I thought so at first too, but it was the opposite.”

Joo Hana, now gaining momentum, continued.

“Bollywood movies have a very big advantage. That is, there are no language or national borders.”

“Hmm?”

“Language isn’t that important in music, is it? If you just want to enjoy it, you can overcome the cultural barriers in the movie and focus more on the music.”

Just as he was wondering what it meant to overcome cultural barriers, Joo Hana threw in one last word as if to emphasize her point.

“In other words, we can overcome the weakness of being Korean in the American market.”

That wasn’t wrong.

The biggest advantage of the Bollywood movie genre was that.

Joo Hana smiled confidently.

*‘Because India is a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural country, they’ve made it so anyone can enjoy it. Even if the movie isn’t well understood, the music and dance are universal.’*

Looking at it the other way around, we are a relatively small minority, Koreans.

That could be a huge advantage when trying to penetrate the American market with a movie made by us.

But.

*‘You’re wrong.’*

There was a very big flaw in that plausible proposal.

Bollywood movies were still Bollywood movies, so there was a very big weakness that made it difficult for them to succeed in Hollywood.

*‘It’s unfortunate for Hana, but I can’t use that.’*

While Lee Min-ki was swallowing his regret, knowing the end of that proposal.

“It’s a good idea, but.”

Director Shim Sung-bo answered sharply, as if cutting that part out with a machete.

“The market we’re aiming for is America, not India.”

That’s right.

The market itself was different.

“Cultural barriers are not an advantage for Americans.”

“Ah, America.”

While Joo Hana was flustered, Director Shim Sung-bo continued in a voice that seemed almost cold.

“In India, the element of overcoming Bollywood’s unique language barrier may be a great advantage, but it’s different for Americans.”

“……”

“For them, the language barrier is naturally non-existent.”

Trivial.

But it was also a very big difference.

In the country of America, it was safe to say that the concept of a language barrier did not exist.

*‘India has hundreds of languages, so that kind of element could be a strength.’*

But the United States, the home of Hollywood, was different.

Their language was English, the world’s common language, and their Hollywood was so famous that it was called the epitome of Western movies.

The Major League itself.

For them, with such an overwhelming film market, it was natural that there was no language barrier.

It would be strange if there was.

In other words.

“Even if you overcome the language barrier a little, it can’t be an advantage.”

Joo Hana’s idea was just to start at the same starting point as other movies.

At best, it was a way to cover up weaknesses.

In the end, it could not reach the realm of creating unique strengths.

“Still, the idea had some helpful aspects. Thank you for your opinion.”

He cut her off.

With words like a gratuity, Joo Hana’s proposal was cut off like slicing a radish.

*‘Ugh, how ruthless.’*

A person who seems like a mix of soft tofu and a *Kukdas* [a person who is easily taken advantage of] turns as sharp as a knife when it comes to work.

“Yes……”

Just as he was feeling sorry for Joo Hana, who had become dispirited, Director Shim Sung-bo, who had nonchalantly trampled on a new sprout, looked at Lee Min-ki and said.

“What kind of ideas have you prepared, Actor Lee?”

The gun was turned.

A gun that would surely pierce his heart with just one shot.

* * *

*‘As expected, he changes once he goes into the meeting.’*

Small beads of cold sweat arced across Lee Min-ki’s forehead as he witnessed Joo Hana being torn apart before his eyes.

*‘Does that mean you’ll be torn to shreds if there’s even a small flaw?’*

Yes, that’s right.

You can’t build a skyscraper on shaky ground.

Moreover, what we are trying to build *is* a skyscraper.

Since the target is high, we must be prepared to be torn apart.

*‘Rather, the fact that the other person is Hana might be why he spoke so gently.’*

But don’t be afraid.

He’s not the kind of person who will make things up to refute you.

Don’t take a step back, take two steps forward and overcome it.

A moment later.

Lee Min-ki took a deep breath, steeled his heart, opened his eyes, and opened his mouth.

“I’ve packaged something radical.”

“Hmm?”

“Something so radical that there hasn’t been a single work like it on the market so far.”

It was a statement that was not only radical but also arrogant.

The faces of the other three people in the conference room flickered at those blunt words.

*‘Something that hasn’t existed until now?’*

Joo Hana was surprised in a positive sense.

*‘As expected, Actor Lee has a different perspective? He’s also someone who has experience as a director.’*

She believed that Lee Min-ki was heavily involved in the production of *[Manman-tu]*. [A fictional movie title].

Lee Min-ki himself denied it, but she assumed it was out of humility.

Meanwhile, the other two people had more doubts than positive feelings.

*‘I’m sorry to Actor Lee, but this looks exactly like…… that.’*

*‘The peak of ignorance.’*

That’s right.

They simply judged that Lee Min-ki’s words about being radical were words that could be easily said because he didn’t know.

It’s not that they see Lee Min-ki in a bad light.

It was simply because a beginner’s confidence usually leads to a water rocket [a project that fails spectacularly].

*‘The less someone has written stories, the higher the percentage of people who believe their ideas are original and great.’*

The majority of ideas that claim to be radical were like that.

There’s a reason why there aren’t many stories on the market.

Most of them have structural flaws.

*‘The production cost is ridiculously high, the development is sudden, there are flaws, or it is out of the public’s demand.’*

It’s so easy to throw out plausible opinions as if you were a genius.

What’s so difficult about conceiving just one great scene?

The important thing is the process of connecting that scene back and forth, and the know-how to draw that process in an interesting way.

A giant monster hitting and fighting?

If you keep hitting it for the entire 2-hour run time of the movie, you won’t even make a profit even if you make 1 billion dollars in sales.

*‘What’s really important is whether it will work in the field.’*

No matter how great an idea is, it ends there if there is a problem with filming it.

Does Lee Min-ki’s self-proclaimed radical idea have any reality?

*‘Probably not.’*

He was skeptical.

Director Shim Sung-bo had doubts based on empiricism, regardless of his trust in Lee Min-ki as a person.

But.

Lee Min-ki, the cause of that distrust, had conviction in a different sense.

*‘There are no problems with commercial viability. It’s okay because it’s a material that’s been guaranteed to be filmed with numerous precedents.’*

He also had faith based on empiricism.

“I’ll explain it to you. In detail.”

With the feeling that if you’re going to argue, you have to argue confidently to be persuasive, Lee Min-ki opened his mouth.

“The subject I’m thinking about is… Internet broadcasting.”

“Internet broadcasting?”

At those words, the doubt in Director Shim Sung-bo’s eyes deepened even further.

Was internet broadcasting such a radical subject?

But Lee Min-ki confidently shouted again.

“One video that the protagonist uploaded to the internet in a fit of anger becomes a hit, gaining worldwide fame in just one day.”

“Yes?”

Director Shim Sung-bo asked as if he didn’t understand.

“Isn’t that too sudden?”

“No. That’s where it starts.”

Lee Min-ki shook his head and said.

“What if that video became so popular that it caught Lockhart’s ear?”

“No way……”

That was the moment he was about to refute.

“Ah!”

Director Jin Joo-yeon exclaimed softly as if she had realized something.

“I get a sense of it?”

“Right?”

“Wait a minute. Do you have a synopsis written for this? I want to see the details in detail.”

“Ah, then I’ll just show it to you in text. That’s easier for me too. Just a moment.”

Lee Min-ki took out his laptop.

After tapping away for a moment.

*KakaoTalk* [a popular Korean messaging app] notifications rang loudly on each of the four people’s phones in the conference room.

“I just sent it. Please take a look.”

“Hmm.”

“I wrote it in detail, but don’t worry about me and feel free to point out anything. If the directors don’t think it’s right, it’s okay to overturn it.”

“We don’t look at people’s faces when it comes to things that are directly related to the quality of the movie.”

Director Shim Sung-bo said sharply.

That sharp appearance was trustworthy in reverse, and Lee Min-ki smiled.

“Of course.”

Now is the time for judgment.

Only the sound of the air conditioner echoed eerily in the quiet conference room.

But that sound is not important.

The sound of fingers rubbing the phone screen is much more important.

*‘I think Director Jin Joo-yeon liked it.’*

A serious atmosphere, as if professors were reviewing a graduate student’s thesis.

Lee Min-ki’s heart was racing like crazy as he was suddenly evaluated by the industry’s top professionals on a story he had written for the first time.

*‘Will Director Shim Sung-bo think so too?’*

Thump, thump, thump.

Only the sound of Lee Min-ki’s heart, trained with aerobics, could be heard loudly.

It’s okay to criticize if you’re going to criticize.

Because I was prepared.

Boxing movies say that if you’re going to get hit anyway, you should be prepared and get hit so it hurts less.

Of course, it will still hurt even if it hurts less.

So let’s be more prepared.

So that no matter what painful things I hear, I can use them as fertilizer and convert them into greater growth.

That was the moment when Lee Min-ki had made all the preparations in his heart.

“Hmm.”

The first person to raise his head was there.

A man with a weak appearance and actually weak, but once he starts working, he becomes more trustworthy than anyone else.

It was Director Shim Sung-bo.

He took off his glasses as if he was tired, rubbed his eyes for a moment, put his glasses back on, and said.

“Actor Lee, I’ve read everything.”

“Yes.”

The next word would determine the life or death of the text he had prepared with sweat.

Gulp.

As if he were a defendant waiting for sentencing in front of a judge, a few seconds flowed like an eternity.

Then, the words that came out of Director Shim Sung-bo’s mouth were something Lee Min-ki had never expected.

“I think we can proceed with this story as is.”

It was a truly unexpected word.

Lee Min-ki wriggled the *orbicularis oculi* [muscles around the eyes] muscles around his eyes, which had been trained by years of acting.

“……You said what now?”

Ah, acting failure.

To that, Director Shim Sung-bo said as if to put an end to it.

“Looking at the idea alone, it’s close to perfect.”