Anisha Nath, Kolkata, West Bengal

Most people in our world judge individuals by their outward appearance not comprehending how beautiful or ugly that person’s inner self is. We start characterising someone’s talent solely by their outer beauty which reflects the dark mindset of this society. Because everyone has some kind of talent, and they have the right to show it to the world. Along these lines, the movie 200 Pounds Beauty directed by Kim Yong-hwa never fails to amaze me. The movie was released on December 14, 2006.

Plot

This movie was based on a Japanese Manga named Kanna’s Big Success written by Yumiko Suzuki. The genre of the movie is musical, romance with a hint of comedy. The film starred Kim Ah-joong as Kang Han-na, the main character and the main actress of the movie, and Joo Jin-mo as the main actor who plays the role of Han Sang-jun. The movie is two hours long and depicts how the new norm of physical appearance is so deep-rooted in this society.

This movie is about a girl named Kang Han-na who was a ghost singer and sang for another not-so-talented pop Idol Ammy. Han-na had a beautiful voice but she was suffering from obesity and was overweight. Unraveling, to hide her real self she constructs another image of a ghost singer. She used to get humiliated by everyone. One day she heard Han Sang-jun, the CEO of the company, insulting her behind her back which was just a mere misunderstanding. She was so deeply hurt because she loved him and he was the reason why she chose to become a ghost singer. Ultimately, she decided to leave the company.

After this, she undergoes very intense and enormous plastic surgery on her whole body and became beautiful and slim. Once achieving her goal, after struggling so much to become what is supposed to be called “beautiful”; she was excited to explore the new her and her new life. Now everything was good about her as she felt so. She was happy that people were giving her attention and becoming fond of her. Later on, she went to the company of Han Sang-jun for auditioning as a ghost singer for Ammy as after Han-na left her career graph was going downwards. But Han-na ended up being the new face pop sensation as she had a good voice as well as a beautiful face and figure.

She joined the company as Jenny because she wanted to hide from Sang-jun. Eventually, as days went by Sang-jun fell in love with Jenny and Han-na as Jenny was as delighted because Sang-jun was falling for her. Sang-jun organized a small concert to introduce Jenny to the audience where she outdid herself and got praised for her talent. Everything was going well between them with some ups and downs in their life. While Ammy found her suspicious and was digging for the real truth about Jenny and tried to reveal her. But Han-na denies the truth and later she found out that Sang-jun also knew the truth. Moreover, Sang-jun cleared the misunderstanding between them about the past incident too.

Advertanly, she decided to reveal herself and she did that at her first big concert. As she thought people would not accept her, but the whole audience welcomed her with warm hearts and showed their support. Sang-jun, her friends, and her father were so happy about her success. Later in the movie, Jenny stopped singing and unleashes her real self carrying her name Kang Han-na who was ruling the pop industry. She became famous as Kang Han-na and carried on singing.

The song Maria was the first song sung by Kang Han-na after she became Jenny, is one of my favourite songs from the movie. Other OSTs like Beautiful girl and Star is also exemplary beautiful. This movie was the 3rd best-selling domestic film of the year. The movie attracted people to watch the movie of its best cinematography. This movie received a lot of awards like Baeksang Arts Award for Most Popular Actress, the Grand Bell Award for Best Actress, Best Music and Best Cinematography, and many other awards.

The movie has everything that a good movie encompasses-funny substance, romantic scenes, happy and sad moments, and most importantly a happy ending. The movie has a very good story and a life lesson to teach us that people should not judge by looks. All the actors played their roles perfectly making the movie one of the best movies of 2006.

Have you seen this movie? What are your thoughts, tell us in the comments!