Rilek1Corner

Tag: Jack Neo

  • Police Question Actor Shrey Bhargava After Reports Lodged Over Viral FB Post

    Police Question Actor Shrey Bhargava After Reports Lodged Over Viral FB Post

    Freelance actor Shrey Bhargava – whose Facebook post on his experience auditioning for local film Ah Boys To Men 4 (ABTM4) had gone viral and sparked widespread debate – had been questioned by the police over reports lodged concerning him.

    In response to TODAY’s queries, the 21-year-old confirmed that he met with officers at the Tanglin Police Division on Wednesday (May 31) and was questioned on “the intentions behind (his) post”, among other things.

    He said: “Yes, I was called by the (police) for questioning. I was informed there that there were police reports made. I was not informed for what or by whom, that was kept confidential.”

    Mr Bhargava said the police told him “not to worry about anything as I had done nothing wrong”, but also advised him to “be cautious about what I post online as people may misinterpret me and my intentions to my detriment”. He was also advised to contact the police if hate speech and abusive comments against him worsen.

    “The Investigation Officer and I agreed that I am absolutely against racial violence of any sort and, instead, was only seeking a healthy and productive discussion for the betterment of Singapore’s media landscape and society. Specifically, I wanted Singaporeans to engage in dialogue regarding the inclusion of minorities in the media, as well as to tackle the issue of casual racism in order to create a more inclusive and harmonious Singapore,” he said.

    ABTM4 will be jointly produced by J Team Productions and MM2 Entertainment, and directed by Jack Neo.

    Approached by the media, J Team Productions had issued a statement saying that the casting director was testing Mr Bhargava on his “versatility” as an actor, and had asked him to perform the scene in various ways, including one as a “full blown Indian man”.

    However, Mr Bhargava disputed this: “This is not true. I was asked to do the scene only twice. The first time I did without direction. The second time, I did after being given the direction ‘be more Indian’ and to do it again as a ‘full-blown Indian man’… The J Team’s statement has misrepresented the facts… It has painted me in a damaging and deceptive light. It seems as though I over-reacted, or worse, that I lied.”

    Contrary to its claims, the J Team had failed to test for versatility, Mr Bhargava argued. “Instead, they defined for me what being Indian ought to mean and that is the crux of the matter… What did they mean by “Be more Indian”? Do they have a premeditated idea of what it means?… And why is being ‘more Indian’ supposed to be ‘funny’,” he questioned.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • Singapore Filmmakers Need To Be More Progressive On Their Interpretations Of Race

    Singapore Filmmakers Need To Be More Progressive On Their Interpretations Of Race

    To Singaporeans complaining about whitewashing & cultural appropriation in Hollywood:

    PLEASE LAH. The same thing’s been happening in our own little film industry, and no-one seems to have spoken up about it.

    CASE ONE: Jack Neo’s “Ah Boyz to Men”: a film about National Service in which ALL the main characters were Chinese. When he had the chance to reboot the series with a Part 3, did he develop one of the Malay, Indian or Eurasian minor characters? Nope! He invited a Taiwanese guest star to steal the limelight. (Remember, this show got MINDEF money to create images of the SAF which no non-Chinese kid would identify with.)

    CASE TWO: Gilbert Chan’s “23:59” and “Ghost Child／鬼仔”。 These are horror movies based on Malay folklore: spirits on Pulau Tekong (where you can’t bring pork) and the toyol. The casts are completely made up of Chinese people.

    CASE THREE: Raymond Tan’s “Wayang Boy/戏曲小子”. This one’s interesting, because the main character is an Indian immigrant kid who speaks Mandarin, and Suhaimi Yusof plays a teacher in his school. And yet it’s set in a Singapore where there are no other Indians (his dad’s dead and his stepmother’s a Chinese woman who forces him to speak Chinese).

    CASE FOUR: Nearly all the shows on Channel 8—still Mediacorp’s most-watched channel—do not feature Malay, Indian or Eurasian characters. In contrast, Suria and Vasantham shows feature Chinese sidekicks regularly.

    The obvious rebuttal to this is that it’s harder to cast non-Chinese when you’re working in Mandarin, which is the language that seems to do best for film and TV here (another kettle of fish there…).

    And yet some shows have done it successfully. Chai Yee Wei’s “That Girl in Pinafore”. Jack Neo’s “Long Long Time Ago”. These films don’t shy away from racial prejudice either—they expose it. On Channel 8 there was also “School Days/七彩学堂”, which was a Chinese version of “Mind Your Language”, but with less stereotyping.

    (Oh, and tons of young non-Chinese Singaporeans today can speak Mandarin. They just may not have told you.)

    By the way, Jack Neo’s making “Ah Boyz to Men 4” and Gilbert Chan’s making “23:59 Part 2”. Can anyone buzz them and tell them to be a little more progressive? Thanks.

     

    Source: Ng Yi-Sheng

  • Alfian Sa’at: Time For Singapore To Stop Relying On Racial Stereotyping For Amusement

    Alfian Sa’at: Time For Singapore To Stop Relying On Racial Stereotyping For Amusement

    I keep hearing stories of minority actors being told that they are not acting ‘Malay’ enough or ‘Indian’ enough, and what it often means is that they are supposed to play terrible racial caricatures. It means a Malay character who is ‘relak aaaaah’ and speaks slowly and an Indian character whose thick accent and head-shaking are supposed to be a source of amusement.

    Often these actors describe their deep discomfort at accepting roles where they become complicit in perpetuating stereotypes. It’s a very difficult situation because ethnically-specific roles for minority actors are so scarce to begin with. And as actors they need any work they can get and they shouldn’t be put in this position where their own principles have to conflict with their livelihood–just on account of their race and terribly ignorant or misinformed writers and directors.

    I’m highlighting this not because I want to ‘bash’ majority privilege or even to call out Jack Neo. I really feel that we can do so much better than to rely on racist stereotypes for amusement. (RIP ‘Mind Your Language’ 1977-1986). I hope that if any of you are anyone involved in the production of ‘Ah Boys to Men 4’, you can pass this on to the screenwriters or director so that we can nip something like this in the bud before it lands up on the big screen.

     

    Source: Alfian Sa’at