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Chitchat Keling Kia Angry That He's Not Keling Enough For Jack Neo's "NS" Franchise Movies!

JohnTan

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Photo-of-Shrey-Bharagava-in-Smart4-from-Facebook.jpg


A Singaporean Indian actor was told by the casting director of a new conscription-themed movie by Jack Neo, that he is “not Indian enough”. Actor Shrey Bhargava took to Facebook and said that he put up with the director’s request and felt “disgusted” playing the role of an Indian Singaporean with thick Indian accent. The actor wrote his thoughts about why the state propaganda movie emphasize the need to play on racism to create jokes, and questioned the morality of the Chinese Singaporean majority who find these jokes funny.

“So, I just finished my audition for Ah Boys to Men 4, and this is what happened inside the casting room:

After completing one full take of the audition script, playing a soldier with a Singaporean accent who spoke in colloquial Singlish, I was asked by the casting director to make it ‘a full blown Indian man’.

Now, I get it, casting directors give directions to see if actors can follow them, but really, asking me to be more Indian even after I performed the scene in a completely Singaporean way and talked as most Singaporeans would (even Indian Singaporeans)?

I said “but not all Indians in Singapore speak with a thick Indian accent”

And she just responded with “but that’s what we want. And make it funny”

So I was told to portray a caricature of my race. I was reduced to my accent, because that’s what made it funny. That’s what they wanted for the film. Diversity in Singaporean film, I guess comes down to playing stereotypes so the majority race can find it amusing.

And also it seemed as though I was just not ‘Indian’ enough.

I wanted to decline to perform and say that they had the power to choose not to force an Indian accent on their Indian character, because that’d make them more authentically Singaporean, but I didn’t. I did it. I put on a fake Indian accent and performed and it felt horrible.

I left the room feeling disgusted. That I was seen by my country as nothing more than the color of my skin and the way they think I ought to speak. Most Singaporean Indians I know do not speak with a full blown Indian accent, so I don’t see why, a film, part of a franchise now known to be inseparably part of our national culture, needs to have an Indian character only if he is a stereotype.

I don’t know if I’ll be cast or not. And right now, that’s besides the point. I hope that whoever they cast will choose to stick to the natural Singaporean accent they have (which may lean towards Indian but doesn’t have to be full blown) instead of adopt a fake one just to feed the racist humor our country thrives on.”

You may read the rest of his post here.

The conscription-themed movie is the 4th series of the propaganda film “Ah Boy to Men”, and is sponsored and supported by the Singapore government. There has been an increase in conscription-based propaganda material recently due to increasing resistance against conscription among Singaporeans.

http://statestimesreview.com/2017/0...d-he-is-not-indian-enough-in-jack-neos-movie/
 

Cottonmouth

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Re: Keling Kia Angry That He's Not Keling Enough For Jack Neo's "NS" Franchise Movies

They should get a North Shitskin from Shitdia for the Shitskin role, complete with the BO, shit tongue, headshake and the filthy stench.
 

songsongjurong

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Re: Keling Kia Angry That He's Not Keling Enough For Jack Neo's "NS" Franchise Movies

This dalit chap very funny...he think he audtioning for oscar, golden globe movie? Jackass neo slapstick local movie only..
 

Cottonmouth

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Re: Keling Kia Angry That He's Not Keling Enough For Jack Neo's "NS" Franchise Movies

Ah Lian Gives the keling a good fuck! this chaocheebye ah neh.

XiaxueLike Page
16 hrs ·
Not sure if you guys have seen this viral Fb post that's going around. Nowadays Singapore is too peaceful already so any accusations of racism get shared heatedly. Yay identity politics! So if you haven't read the article, go ahead and read it. It's about this Indian guy who was auditioning for a role in Ah Boys to Men 4 (oh god there are 4?!).

If you are too lazy to read it, I'll summarize it for you. The actor, Shrey, is Indian and is auditioning for an Indian role. After he did his casting speaking in the normal way Singaporeans speak + colloquial Singlish, he claims he was asked to make it sound MORE Indian, and to make it funny.

To which, Shrey, affronted and outraged, told the casting director that "Not all Indians in Singapore speak with a thick Indian accent". No shit Sherlock, you think we all have never heard Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam or Mr Davinder Singh deliver powerful speeches in their posh Queen's English? And guess what? They sound extremely smart and respectable, but put them in a comedy movie and it will feel jarringly out of place and a complete snoozefest. They just aren't FUNNY.

Shrey then continues by whining about how he feels reduced to his accent, a caricature of his race, blah blah. Then, wait for it... he says he has to play a stereotype so that the MAJORITY RACE (read: Chinese) can find it amusing.

He then did this really weird thing where he said even though he desperately wanted to lecture the casting director on how a Singlish accent will be more authentic for a Singaporean Indian character instead of a heavy Indian accent, he somehow didn't do it. He put on the 'fake' Indian accent, performed, and felt horrible and disgusted with himself afterwards. I don't know if he is drawing some odd parallel to the stereotype of desperate actresses who are pressured to give a blowjob on the casting couch and hate themselves afterwards, but it felt like that to me. Awww you poor thing, did they force a funny Indian accent on you? It must have destroyed your entire self esteem and your hymen!

Shrey then continued the entry by crying about how he is seen by his country (read: the Chinese I assume) as nothing more than the colour of his skin, boohoo, and the way they think he ought to speak (read: Chinese only accept comical Indian accents from Indians, we smack well spoken Indians when we meet them. How dare you be so pretentious!). And of course, that Singapore thrives on racist humour. Then begin the typical SJW tirade about how films are important in shaping social issues blahbitty blah blah, Singapore is NOT a Chinese country, we need to respect all races stop discrimination etc. Very boring.

He then ends the post by saying he was asked if he is local the moment he stepped into the audition room. He assumes that it is because he is North Indian and therefore not as dark as the South Indians, plus he has a "regular international accent". Erm hello? Don't anyhow assume people asked if you are local just because of your skin colour or pompous accent ok? It could be a question they asked everybody for administrative issues, or to determine if you need explanation on how to pronounce some of the colloquial terms. Geez... Sensitive much?!

Oh and don't forget the melodramatic "I do not deserve to feel like a foreigner in my own country"... Thus ends his post.

..............................

OK WHERE DO I BEGIN?

First off, get the fuck off your fucking high horse. You are an actor, or trying to be one anyway. Actors are hired to act in a fictional ROLE. Not as themselves, nor what their perception of the role should be like. Sometimes the roles are comical caricatures. You object? Good, go write your own movie and star in it.

Movies are chockful of stereotypes. So? If the story needs a stereotype it will have a stereotype. You think Christoph Waltz, an Austrian-German portraying a sociopathic Nazi, won the Academy Award by whining to the director about how he is very hurt that Germans are always portrayed as nazis in film, especially when modern Germany isn't filled with nazis anymore and this is a painful stereotype? No he didn't, because the story needed a stereotypical Nazi. So he did what actors do. ACT.

You think the nerdy actors in Big Bang Theory are whimpering about how physicists shouldn't be protrayed as socially awkward virgins because not all physicists are? Or that Melissa McCarthy is objecting to the roles she typically gets as a klutzy sassy lady because not all fat people are like this? Or perhaps Rachel McAdams flipping the table when she found out that yet another blonde cheerleader is typecast as a mean girl? Is Mike Myers supposed to be angry when asked to fart and burp because #notallogres are uncouth?! What? No movie can ever have a stereotype again?! Oh we better not have another romantic comedy with another heterosexual couple! That is SO stereotypical and insulting, are these actors nothing more than their XX and XY chromosomes?!

I'm sorry you are so easily triggered but exaggerated accents are FUNNY. This is true of EVERY accent, be it the affected French, the stuffy English, the over affectionate Italian, the cowboy Texan, the confused Asian, the villainous Russian. Jian Yang in Silicon Valley speaks in a typical exaggerated Chinese accent where rice turns to lice. It's hilarious. If Jack Neo is racist for asking an Indian person to speak in an Indian accent, then he must be the most self hating racist ever because he is Liang Si Mei, who is a typical uneducated and kiasu Chinese auntie, the sort you meet at wet markets.

God forbid any Indians are allowed to speak in a heavy Indian accent in any local film from now on. All of them must speak in a polished, respectable way because Shrey says so! Please get the stick out of your ass. It's COMEDY, where every character regardless of race is a funny caricature. It's not a propaganda film to promote Singaporean Indians in Singapore/overseas. You want propaganda go film it yourself.

Wait, but here's what I'm confused about. You are ok with a Singaporean Indian role speaking colloquial Singlish, but not ok with him speaking in a heavy Indian accent. Why is an Indian accent somehow considered more embarrassing than grammatically wrong English when both are protrayed as comical?

Singaporean Indians in movies should not speak in an Indian accent? What made you the supreme authority on how all Indians should be portrayed like? There are indeed Indians with thick Indian accents, why shouldn't they be represented in movies? Must they be made to feel ashamed of their accent just because YOU find it so disgraceful that you felt disgusted with yourself after speaking it? And what's a "regular international accent" anyway? Is it the accent uppity people have when they study overseas, think they are very worldly when they come back and suddenly develop a fake accent while finding their own farts smell really good? I think I know that one.

And then we go to the subtle passive aggressive attacks on the 'majority race', even though Shrey has left it unnamed. What's the deal here? What did Chinese people do?! Because we find Indian accents funny we are now racist, even though so many of us wish for Tharman to be the next PM (myself included)? Hello we also find Lulu funny, she speaks with a Cheena Chinese accent. Singaporeans, not just the 'majority race', find Irene Ang in Phua Chu Kang funny, and she's a caricature of a loudmouth Chinese auntie. Whether you like it or not, stereotype humour will always have an audience. It isn't racism because the characters are there for people to identify with, not to mock. Forrest Gump plays a low intelligence character but nobody is mocking him when they watch the show. There is a difference.

Stop saying bullshitty things like you are nothing more than the colour of your skin to your entire country just because in this ONE instance you were asked to speak in a comical exaggerated accent. Ridiculous. I suppose whenever someone asks me to sing Kill Bill I will break down because my only self worth is being a horse for entertainment.

And lastly... nobody made you feel like a foreigner in your own country. You are a Singaporean asked to play a Singaporean role in a Singaporean movie. I literally cannot think of anything that can make someone feel more Singaporean, except maybe when they are handed keys to their BTO or given a voting slip.

Stop being so hypersensitive and uptight ffs. The self importance masked as noble social justice is palpable. Through your post, you claim that ABTM is racist but all the exchange showed is that they find the accent funny and think the movie audience will like it. You, on the other hand, find the accent embarrassing and disgraceful, and think you are one of the Singaporean Indians who are better than those who speak like that. I'll leave this here to let people decide which is worse.

P/s: After your blatant name calling for a non issue, I wonder if anyone dares to audition you for anything else in future in case you go off on a tirade about accents again and tell everyone how racist the film is. "How dare you make me speak Legalese for this role!!!! Not all Indians are lawyers you know!"

Edit: WTF!! Link to Shrey's post in the comments because somehow, if I add it to this post and people share the post it will not share what I wrote but only his post. Get your shit together Facebook!
 

JohnTan

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Re: Keling Kia Angry That He's Not Keling Enough For Jack Neo's "NS" Franchise Movies

Vin Diesel got his 'Fast & Furious' franchise, we sinkies got our "Ah Boys to Men' franchise! We can hold our heads up high in the international arena.
 

Cottonmouth

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Re: Keling Kia Angry That He's Not Keling Enough For Jack Neo's "NS" Franchise Movies

Vin Diesel got his 'Fast & Furious' franchise, we sinkies got our "Ah Boys to Men' franchise! We can hold our heads up high in the international arena.

I doubt Jack Neo's rubbish made its way out of Fuckapore. If it did, there's only embarrassment, not pride.
 

scroobal

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Re: Keling Kia Angry That He's Not Keling Enough For Jack Neo's "NS" Franchise Movies

Though I agree that no Singaporean Indian speaks like an India Indian, this is Singapore where the Arts has little depth and the casting director is probably not that artistic enough to deliver a classy and comic performance without these kinds of gimmicks. Remember the guy whose version of performance arts was to pee and got banned for it. Many can't make it. The same theme about Army will be related over and over again. When Army Daze was released it, it was original and it was really good. Not anymore. The difference is the actors able to deliver with their talent.

I am sure if the Hokkein Ah Beng will be exploited to the hilt.
 

gatehousethetinkertailor

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Re: Keling Kia Angry That He's Not Keling Enough For Jack Neo's "NS" Franchise Movies

Ah beng bait (didn't she have surgery to make her nose more ang moh?): https://www.facebook.com/Xiaxue.sg/posts/10155445481037431


Xiaxue
18 hrs


Not sure if you guys have seen this viral Fb post that's going around. Nowadays Singapore is too peaceful already so any accusations of racism get shared heatedly. Yay identity politics! So if you haven't read the article, go ahead and read it. It's about this Indian guy who was auditioning for a role in Ah Boys to Men 4 (oh god there are 4?!).

If you are too lazy to read it, I'll summarize it for you. The actor, Shrey, is Indian and is auditioning for an Indian role. After he did his casting speaking in the normal way Singaporeans speak + colloquial Singlish, he claims he was asked to make it sound MORE Indian, and to make it funny.
To which, Shrey, affronted and outraged, told the casting director that "Not all Indians in Singapore speak with a thick Indian accent". No shit Sherlock, you think we all have never heard Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam or Mr Davinder Singh deliver powerful speeches in their posh Queen's English? And guess what? They sound extremely smart and respectable, but put them in a comedy movie and it will feel jarringly out of place and a complete snoozefest. They just aren't FUNNY.
Shrey then continues by whining about how he feels reduced to his accent, a caricature of his race, blah blah. Then, wait for it... he says he has to play a stereotype so that the MAJORITY RACE (read: Chinese) can find it amusing.
He then did this really weird thing where he said even though he desperately wanted to lecture the casting director on how a Singlish accent will be more authentic for a Singaporean Indian character instead of a heavy Indian accent, he somehow didn't do it. He put on the 'fake' Indian accent, performed, and felt horrible and disgusted with himself afterwards. I don't know if he is drawing some odd parallel to the stereotype of desperate actresses who are pressured to give a blowjob on the casting couch and hate themselves afterwards, but it felt like that to me. Awww you poor thing, did they force a funny Indian accent on you? It must have destroyed your entire self esteem and your hymen!

Shrey then continued the entry by crying about how he is seen by his country (read: the Chinese I assume) as nothing more than the colour of his skin, boohoo, and the way they think he ought to speak (read: Chinese only accept comical Indian accents from Indians, we smack well spoken Indians when we meet them. How dare you be so pretentious!). And of course, that Singapore thrives on racist humour. Then begin the typical SJW tirade about how films are important in shaping social issues blahbitty blah blah, Singapore is NOT a Chinese country, we need to respect all races stop discrimination etc.

Very boring.

He then ends the post by saying he was asked if he is local the moment he stepped into the audition room. He assumes that it is because he is North Indian and therefore not as dark as the South Indians, plus he has a "regular international accent". Erm hello? Don't anyhow assume people asked if you are local just because of your skin colour or pompous accent ok? It could be a question they asked everybody for administrative issues, or to determine if you need explanation on how to pronounce some of the colloquial terms. Geez... Sensitive much?!
Oh and don't forget the melodramatic "I do not deserve to feel like a foreigner in my own country"... Thus ends his post.
..............................
OK WHERE DO I BEGIN?
First off, get the fuck off your fucking high horse. You are an actor, or trying to be one anyway. Actors are hired to act in a fictional ROLE. Not as themselves, nor what their perception of the role should be like. Sometimes the roles are comical caricatures. You object? Good, go write your own movie and star in it.

Movies are chockful of stereotypes. So? If the story needs a stereotype it will have a stereotype. You think Christoph Waltz, an Austrian-German portraying a sociopathic Nazi, won the Academy Award by whining to the director about how he is very hurt that Germans are always portrayed as nazis in film, especially when modern Germany isn't filled with nazis anymore and this is a painful stereotype? No he didn't, because the story needed a stereotypical Nazi. So he did what actors do. ACT.

You think the nerdy actors in Big Bang Theory are whimpering about how physicists shouldn't be protrayed as socially awkward virgins because not all physicists are? Or that Melissa McCarthy is objecting to the roles she typically gets as a klutzy sassy lady because not all fat people are like this? Or perhaps Rachel McAdams flipping the table when she found out that yet another blonde cheerleader is typecast as a mean girl? Is Mike Myers supposed to be angry when asked to fart and burp because #notallogres are uncouth?! What? No movie can ever have a stereotype again?! Oh we better not have another romantic comedy with another heterosexual couple! That is SO stereotypical and insulting, are these actors nothing more than their XX and XY chromosomes?!

I'm sorry you are so easily triggered but exaggerated accents are FUNNY. This is true of EVERY accent, be it the affected French, the stuffy English, the over affectionate Italian, the cowboy Texan, the confused Asian, the villainous Russian. Jian Yang in Silicon Valley speaks in a typical exaggerated Chinese accent where rice turns to lice. It's hilarious. If Jack Neo is racist for asking an Indian person to speak in an Indian accent, then he must be the most self hating racist ever because he is Liang Si Mei, who is a typical uneducated and kiasu Chinese auntie, the sort you meet at wet markets.
God forbid any Indians are allowed to speak in a heavy Indian accent in any local film from now on. All of them must speak in a polished, respectable way because Shrey says so! Please get the stick out of your ass. It's COMEDY, where every character regardless of race is a funny caricature. It's not a propaganda film to promote Singaporean Indians in Singapore/overseas. You want propaganda go film it yourself.

Wait, but here's what I'm confused about. You are ok with a Singaporean Indian role speaking colloquial Singlish, but not ok with him speaking in a heavy Indian accent. Why is an Indian accent somehow considered more embarrassing than grammatically wrong English when both are protrayed as comical?

Singaporean Indians in movies should not speak in an Indian accent? What made you the supreme authority on how all Indians should be portrayed like? There are indeed Indians with thick Indian accents, why shouldn't they be represented in movies? Must they be made to feel ashamed of their accent just because YOU find it so disgraceful that you felt disgusted with yourself after speaking it? And what's a "regular international accent" anyway? Is it the accent uppity people have when they study overseas, think they are very worldly when they come back and suddenly develop a fake accent while finding their own farts smell really good? I think I know that one.

And then we go to the subtle passive aggressive attacks on the 'majority race', even though Shrey has left it unnamed. What's the deal here? What did Chinese people do?! Because we find Indian accents funny we are now racist, even though so many of us wish for Tharman to be the next PM (myself included)? Hello we also find Lulu funny, she speaks with a Cheena Chinese accent. Singaporeans, not just the 'majority race', find Irene Ang in Phua Chu Kang funny, and she's a caricature of a loudmouth Chinese auntie. Whether you like it or not, stereotype humour will always have an audience. It isn't racism because the characters are there for people to identify with, not to mock. Forrest Gump plays a low intelligence character but nobody is mocking him when they watch the show. There is a difference.

Stop saying bullshitty things like you are nothing more than the colour of your skin to your entire country just because in this ONE instance you were asked to speak in a comical exaggerated accent. Ridiculous. I suppose whenever someone asks me to sing Kill Bill I will break down because my only self worth is being a horse for entertainment.

And lastly... nobody made you feel like a foreigner in your own country. You are a Singaporean asked to play a Singaporean role in a Singaporean movie. I literally cannot think of anything that can make someone feel more Singaporean, except maybe when they are handed keys to their BTO or given a voting slip.

Stop being so hypersensitive and uptight ffs. The self importance masked as noble social justice is palpable. Through your post, you claim that ABTM is racist but all the exchange showed is that they find the accent funny and think the movie audience will like it. You, on the other hand, find the accent embarrassing and disgraceful, and think you are one of the Singaporean Indians who are better than those who speak like that. I'll leave this here to let people decide which is worse.

P/s: After your blatant name calling for a non issue, I wonder if anyone dares to audition you for anything else in future in case you go off on a tirade about accents again and tell everyone how racist the film is. "How dare you make me speak Legalese for this role!!!! Not all Indians are lawyers you know!"

Edit: WTF!! Link to Shrey's post in the comments because somehow, if I add it to this post and people share the post it will not share what I wrote but only his post. Get your shit together Facebook!
 

scroobal

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Re: Keling Kia Angry That He's Not Keling Enough For Jack Neo's "NS" Franchise Movies

To be put down is bad enough, being put down by this talentless short arse must be a complete nightmare.
 

Jah_rastafar_I

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Re: Keling Kia Angry That He's Not Keling Enough For Jack Neo's "NS" Franchise Movies

This shit skin deserves all it got and I support xiaxue 100% on this topic. This is something I noticed about sinkies or more specifically sinkie Chinese. You might hate xiaxue but in this instance support her 100% don't let shit skins get anymore leeway.
 

JohnTan

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Re: Keling Kia Angry That He's Not Keling Enough For Jack Neo's "NS" Franchise Movies

I don't see anything wrong with asking a keling to speak with a thick keling accent. Other kelings do it and get lots of hits on Youtube.

[video=youtube;0RaBxH_MKQI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RaBxH_MKQI&t=6s[/video]
 

Semaj2357

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Re: Keling Kia Angry That He's Not Keling Enough For Jack Neo's "NS" Franchise Movies

a good actor has to play the part that he or she has been casted in and he should know that the director's cut prevails.
this shitskin wants to portray the type of keling that is not in the script, perhaps the big mango beckons and he should make it big and be a star in bollywood, and he has my best wishes with lots of head-nodding.
heck, look at barbarella and especially lulu, nothing detrimental to michelle's persona and she now directs her own movies:smile:
 

Rogue Trader

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Re: Keling Kia Angry That He's Not Keling Enough For Jack Neo's "NS" Franchise Movies

Cultural Medallion recipient and national treasure Jack Neo should be wiser to the fact that Indians are notoriously difficult to work with. He should have just cast a Chinese with painted black face like back in the days of the minstrel show

uob-staff-blackface.jpg
 

Jah_rastafar_I

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Re: Keling Kia Angry That He's Not Keling Enough For Jack Neo's "NS" Franchise Movies

Cultural Medallion recipient and national treasure Jack Neo should be wiser to the fact that Indians are notoriously difficult to work with. He should have just cast a Chinese with painted black face like back in the days of the minstrel show

uob-staff-blackface.jpg

did you know the shit skins acting like typical shit skins obviously bitched and moaned to the skies of this portrayal of them by Chinese painted with shit skins. Wonder if any of them got into trouble.
 

Rogue Trader

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Re: Keling Kia Angry That He's Not Keling Enough For Jack Neo's "NS" Franchise Movies

I doubt Jack Neo's rubbish made its way out of Fuckapore. If it did, there's only embarrassment, not pride.

Jack Neo wants to cast an indian with heavy accent because he intends to further Pap's FT policy agenda by showcasing new citizens in the Saf

I hope the hypocrite ah neh blows it up further and makes it a big deal until Jack loses his sinkie cultural medallion
 

Rogue Trader

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Re: Keling Kia Angry That He's Not Keling Enough For Jack Neo's "NS" Franchise Movies

did you know the shit skins acting like typical shit skins obviously bitched and moaned to the skies of this portrayal of them by Chinese painted with shit skins. Wonder if any of them got into trouble.

yeah i remember this was a big hoohaa on Stomp .. some D&D show at Uob. Obviously pao tor by some ah neh employee
 

kelton65

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Re: Keling Kia Angry That He's Not Keling Enough For Jack Neo's "NS" Franchise Movies

I have been observing this argument ping ponging back and forth in Facebook.

On one side, the mostly Chinese commentators said that the Indian accent is not a problem nor is it racist as it is a comedy and Shrey should not have gone for the audition and bitched about it on Facebook and blame the Chinese. They also highlighted that Chinese people also played Chinese based stereotypes like Ah beng and PRC in Jack Neo's movies.

On the other hand, many Indians complained it is hurtful and downright racist that their accent is mocked as local Indians don't really speak like that. Shrey also took this opportunity to highlight the racism that minorities faced in the art scene in Singapore. There already isn't much acting roles for minorities and even if there are roles, many of these roles are demeaning and minorities are reduced to cacricatures for the majority Chinese to mock at.
 

melzp

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Re: Keling Kia Angry That He's Not Keling Enough For Jack Neo's "NS" Franchise Movies

On another juncture, looking back, my platoon mate was from India (south) direct import.
The whole Coy knows this. Coz he is very outstanding.
Always turning the wrong way. Coz instructions were in Malay.
Today, I still see him in Tekka selling textile.
See, how desperate Mindef is ?
 

kelton65

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Re: Keling Kia Angry That He's Not Keling Enough For Jack Neo's "NS" Franchise Movies

Maxi Lee, one of the cast of ABTM had weigh in the issue as well and it does not look good for Shrey.

"People who know me knows I rarely do this.

So you have slid me a PM asking me to put a good word for you to the casting team before your audition. What am I supposed to feel now? Like shit?

Next you PM me about how surprised you were that I shared XiaXue's post and how disappointed you were that I agreed with her views. I invited you to comment on my post but you did not.

I get it. You are upset with the casting team with you speaking in a thick Indian accent when you felt that Singaporean Indians don't do so. You know I like your work a lot, I have always been open about it and nobody is doubting your acting skills here. I have seen you acting in films with a thick Indian accent before, so what is this? And only until this casting you are upset? Double standard here? Or are you creating this saga to self-promote?

The fact is when so many people are "missing the point", it is simply because that point is just not substantial or just plain twisted to fit your agenda.

You mentioned you put on a fake Indian accent, performed, felt horrible and left disgusted. There were times I knew I messed up an audition or perhaps felt unfair about certain requirements and left feeling not good. But did I take it all up online? This simply reflects your lack of professionalism and putting the race card into the picture is so wrong.

So you remembered to come to the audition in uniform but forgot you are here for a comedy casting? Leave your ego at the door. I really would not take offense if an audition would require me to do a PRC accent or such. What is wrong? So you came to the audition not knowing this film is based on stereotypes? Have you done your homework? You are good with accents but now you chose to be offended and make this nonissue into one. This is a comedy, get over it man.

Also, handle your insecurities Shrey, this isn't the first time I saw you posting on FB along the lines of "not deserving to feel like a foreigner in your own country". Don't mix your insecurities to this casting. Not cool. Stirring the feelings of other actors into the picture, that's worst man. I believe they are wise enough to see the bigger picture here.

If I were to walk into the audition in my no.4 and spoke in your "natural accent", I am very sure the team would also ask if I am local. Once again, nothing wrong I would not have taken offense at that. Surely, I would definitely impress them, later on, should they require me to do a Singaporean accent. Eden Ang speaks with an accent and I'm very sure I've asked if he is local before. Don't think he is angry.

To my Indian brothers whom I had the pleasure to work with for the past 3 movies. If I remembered correctly, none of them had to speak with an Indian accent in the films. Perhaps the casting team was just testing you to see if you could deliver an Indian accent and see how well you could take direction. Or perhaps your "natural accent" is too thick? I wasn't there and I am not sure. We all know that such "tests" are very common during auditions, you're a BFA student, right? So if they didn't get an Indian actor to put on an Indian accent, then get someone from another ethnicity to do so? Would that make you upset again?

Lastly, if you are cast, I hope you stand on your beliefs and reject the role."
 
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