#K-PopTalks: How Richa Rohira turned her love for K-Drama and K-pop into building a space that brings comfort to many!

In an era of constantly chasing trends, Richa Rohira’s content feels like a cute little space where K-pop and K-drama fans can openly share their feelings!

As someone who fell in love with K-dramas during the pandemic and became a die-hard BTS fan around the same time, I have witnessed the growth of both of these things amongst the Indian audiences slowly and steadily. 5 years ago, both K-dramas and K-pop were considered niche content and not many even knew about what they exactly are. But today, we see K-dramas trending on every platform and K-pop songs topping charts here. There’s a huge community of people who love discussing every exciting on-going K-drama and every new update that happens in the BTS world. It’s like we’re one big family and even though we might not know each other personally, we still have something special in common. A thing we feel deeply about and only we understand how it has changed our life for the better. So, on one of my doom-scrolling nights, I came across Richa Rohira aka buttercup.loves.reading’s Reel about how she became a BTS Army this year and how her life has drastically changed since then. I loved the way she was so vocal about everything we feel as Armys and because she is newer to this world than I am, watching her talk about the super group took me straight back to my baby Army days!

As I deep dived into her content, I also saw her talk about various K-dramas that she has loved watching or resonated with and why they were worth anyone’s time in the sea of content that’s in front of us today! Since I’ve had a similar journey with K-drama and K-pop as her, I found myself relating to quite a lot of her Reels as I’m sure there are many out there who feel like she is speaking on behalf of an entire community! Her content is aesthetic, to the point and often is about her opinions on things she loves. And yet she has a way of keeping us hooked to what else she has to say about a certain topic.

From her cute little book shelf that she uses as her background in her videos, to her content itself, all of it makes her feel like she in fact is straight out of a K-drama! In a candid conversation with us, she spoke about her journey as a K-drama and K-pop fan, why she decided to make content around it, her process of making a Reel, misconceptions people have about K-pop fans and why Korean content is resonating with women now more than ever!

Also Read: #K-poptalks: In conversation with ONEWE about their first performance in India, their growing fanbase and what they look forward to the most here!

Here’s what she had to say!

When did your obsession with K-dramas and K-pop really begin, and how has it positively influenced your life?

I watched a couple of K-dramas in 2021 but they were so addicting that I stopped watching them entirely because I couldn't resist watching them all the time! I properly got into K-dramas in October 2024 when my sister made me watch a few dramas and I fell in LOVE! I've watched revenge dramas, family dramas, romance, thrillers, you name it! K-dramas have a variety of stories to offer for every mood and the romantic dramas make me feel so deeply. I also started learning Korean earlier this year because of how much I enjoy K-dramas so I’d say that’s a very positive impact!

However with K-pop, I got into it because I randomly came across a couple of edits of V of BTS and I was like, “Wait, who is this brilliant dancer?” This happened in May 2025, so it's very recent for me! Then, I discovered Seventeen last month and I’m currently into these two K-pop groups. With respect to BTS in specific, the lyrics have a wonderful way of really connecting with you deeply. I had a tough year in 2024 and honestly couldn’t find the right words to explain how I felt until I heard ‘Blue and Grey’ by BTS. Their songs advocate loving yourself, continuing to do what you have to do despite circumstances that could bring you down and honestly they’re great to listen to. I’m yet to go deeper into Seventeen’s music. Both these groups also have variety shows: Run BTS and Going SEVENTEEN which are always a mood lifter for me!

When did you first start creating content around BTS and Korean dramas? What inspired you to take that step from fan to creator?

My Instagram page is called “buttercup.loves.reading” through which I initially intended to share book recommendations. However, I randomly posted a K-drama Reel about a show called ‘Soundtrack’ which went viral! That’s when I started creating content about K-dramas. I came to a realization that there are a lot of K-drama fans out there with fabulous recommendations and the desire to discuss the dramas as well. With respect to BTS, I truly wanted to share how I became a BTS ARMY which is why I created a Reel about the same and met wonderful people across the globe through this Reel! Connecting with other fans has been the highlight for me, the K-pop fans I have interacted with through instagram have basically ‘educated’ me about K-pop!

Walk us through your process of creating a Reel, from idea to post.

There are moments when I’m watching a K-drama when I just know that I need to talk about this to other K-drama fans who will just get how I am feeling! Other times, when I decide to recommend a specific drama, I usually make a list of the points I would like to talk about and then shoot the content. My Reels focus on how the dramas made me FEEL as opposed to a review of the drama itself.

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Why do you think K-dramas resonate with women around the world today?

Generally speaking, when we say K-dramas are enjoyed by women, we tend to focus only on the romantic dramas which are wonderful, however the women that I personally know watch a variety of K-dramas which go beyond the romance element. However if we do keep the romance element at the centre, these dramas offer a variety of arcs: healing together, revenge plots and of course, the cutesy and light-hearted plots too. The cinematography, the casting, the plot and the brilliant music as well make these dramas very enjoyable.

Beyond romance, the lead women in K-dramas are a force of nature; watching them makes me feel so satisfied and I find myself rooting for these brilliant characters. If you look at shows like My Liberation Notes, Happiness, Doctor Slump and even Fight For My Way; the female leads are all so different from one another but all of them depict so much resilience and the will to keep moving forward and achieving what they set their mind to. This is an aspect that I resonate with and why I enjoyed these K-dramas so much!

Do you think K-dramas/K-pop offer something different from mainstream Indian entertainment today and hence the Hallyu wave is growing in India now more than ever?

I have grown up watching Bollywood movies so I can only speak about Bollywood here. I haven’t enjoyed a lot of the movies that have been released in the past few years now. I do think that is the general sentiment about mainstream Bollywood entertainment in India. This could be a contributing factor to the shift to K-dramas for newer audiences like me. Also, the pandemic really gave rise to the love for K-dramas as well as K-pop for a majority of the audience. A lot of people I know started watching K-dramas with ‘Crash Landing on You’ during the pandemic. BTS blew up even further with the release of ‘Dynamite’. So in my opinion, the timings of these events really added on to the Hallyu wave as well.

But it's important to note that there have always been K-pop and K-drama enthusiasts in India, it was a niche audience earlier and now content is widely available on streaming platforms and is more accessible to newer audiences.

If you had to introduce one Korean drama and one K-pop song to someone new to Korean culture — which would it be and why?

The drama I have in mind might not appeal to everyone, it’s quite slow-paced but I do believe it’s one of the most well written dramas with brilliant cinematography - My Liberation Notes. It follows the journey of 3 siblings living away from Seoul and having to commute daily to their workplace. It captures the struggles of people trying to make it in this world, loneliness, mental health concerns and not feeling good enough.

I can’t just pick one song so I’ll share two - ‘Blue and Grey by BTS’. I love how beautiful this song is and how it captures the depth of sadness a person can feel. Then there is ‘D-Day by Agust D’, a great rap which talks about forgetting the past and moving forward, rising despite circumstances and to just keep going!

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What’s a stereotype or misconception about K-pop / K-drama fans (or about Korean culture) that you wish more people, especially outside the fandom understood or reconsidered?

I recently posted a Reel about how I got into BTS and few of the comments were about how people were happy that I could publicly acknowledge my admiration for BTS. There are still people out there who feel judged by others for enjoying K-pop and K-dramas which is so sad. If they actually heard music from groups like BTS, they’d realise how thoughtful the lyrics can be and how brilliant the discography is and why we love it.

People very commonly assume that the audience enjoys K-dramas because of the romance element which is often spoken about. But if they really got to watching K-dramas, they would understand the different themes that these dramas capture, how brilliantly they are shot and how talented the actors are!

How has creating content changed your experience as a BTS fan and K-drama lover?

I don’t think my experience has changed but as I mentioned, I have met great people while creating content who are now friends who I can discuss every little BTS, Seventeen or K-drama moment with. It feels validating to see so many people out there who understand why you enjoy something so deeply.

What do you hope your followers take away from your content?

I hope my content brings them comfort and a place to discuss all things K-dramas and K-pop!

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What is something that you love about her content? Let us know in the comments below!

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