‘Amah’ Usha Seamkhum and director Pat Boonnitipat were in town for a fan meet session for hit Thai film “How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” on Monday evening, which was held at Golden Village Suntec.
The tearjerker has become the highest grossing Thai film in Singapore, a remarkable feat given that it has only been released locally on May 30th. This marks both Boonnitipat’s debut as a director and Seamkhum’s film debut, and they are really overwhelmed and happy about the overall reception it has received, which went beyond their expectations.
At the fan meet session, the movie attendees also learnt more about the movie through the Q&A session, with questions posed by both the emcee and moviegoers.
On director Boonnitipat, Seamkhum thought of him as more than a grandson to her; he is more like a son, who has been taking good care of her throughout the filming period, even when she was unwell. The most challenging scene for her in the movie would be the one where she was walking along the train tracks with her grandson, M (played by Billkin). The weather was very hot and the trains were noisy as well, accompanied with the slope terrain of the tracks, the scene actually took 20 takes to film!
The inspiration for the movie actually started out from the scriptwriter who wrote a story based on his grandmother, which everyone loved and then it proceeded from there. There are various elements from the movie that are based on real life experiences, such as the song choice for the karaoke session. It was actually a song sung by Boonnitipat’s grandmother after they surprised her for her birthday, which he recorded it to find out what song it was (Zhou Xuan’s “Xing Xin Xiang Yin”). He did not hear of the song before this, but decided to include it in the movie as he felt that it probably meant a lot to his grandmother.
“There are so many grandchildren to love, especially in Singapore. I love Singapore so much.”
– ‘Amah’ Usha Seamkhum on being affectionately termed as everyone’s grandma
Several lucky moviegoers’ seat numbers that were chosen also got the opportunity to go up on stage to take a group photo together with Seamkhum and Boonnitipat. Before the fan meet concluded, the duo took pictures with the entire cinema and thanked everyone for their support and love towards the box office hit.
Also starring Thai stars Billkin and Tu Tontawan, don’t miss out on “How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies”, currently showing in Singapore cinemas. Remember to bring along a packet of tissue!
Photos: Angeline @ KAvenyou
