The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies

Emotional performance by Gurmit Singh in Taxi! Taxi!

Posted: 22 Jan 2013 02:04 AM PST

Singaporean funnyman Gurmit Singh draws from personal failures to portray a retrenched professor turned taxi driver in Taxi! Taxi!.

THANKS to his ebullient portrayal of the iconic curly-haired, Singlish-speaking, Ah Beng-looking contractor Phua Chu Kang (PCK) from the hit comedy series of the same name, Gurmit Singh is irrefutably one of Singapore's most successful funnyman.

While his character Phua may claim to be "the best contractor in Singapore, JB and some say, Batam", Gurmit's achievements as an actor far surpasses that, nabbing five Asian Television Awards for Best Comedy Performance By An Actor and a nomination for best actor at the prestigious Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards – solidifying his position as a top notch, well-loved comedian in Asia.

Indeed, "don't pray pray", as Phua would say.

With so many local and international accomplishments, viewers readily presume that Gurmit is only used to tasting success. The 47-year-old who was recently in town to promote Singapore-Malaysian production Taxi! Taxi! shakes his head and flashes a knowing smile at the mention of this misconception.

"Before I became a successful comedian, my whole life was about being a failure. I was bad in school. When I was in class, I didn't understand what was going on, I felt really stupid. I always ended up at the bottom 10 positions. To make things worse, my two younger sisters scored top 10 positions in contrast. I felt like I wasn't a real member of the family, I felt like I was adopted," Gurmit recalls his childhood years.

Lo and behold, success later found Gurmit when he landed a hosting gig on variety show Live On 5 in 1994. Life was never the same again for the comedian whose father worked as a security guard and his mother, a housewife. Even so, he later realised his success in show business came at the expense of something else.

"As a husband and a father, I felt like a failure," he candidly reveals. In the past 16 years, the multi-hyphenate star – comedian, actor, host and singer – is involved in at least two projects (five, at the height of his career) that takes place simultaneously each day.

"So when I come back, they (the children) are asleep and I leave before they are awake," he says.

Professionally, though an established artiste under broadcast giant MediaCorp, he is not spared from harsh criticisms, stating "the industry can be very cruel, it can put you up on a pedestal one day and the next day, they're not happy with you." Gurmit has been lambasted for his overuse of Singlish from as far back as his portrayal of PCK and while hosting Singapore Idol besides drawing flak for allegedly "showing off" his Lamborghini last year.

Meanwhile, he also admits to suffering from an inferiority complex to the extent of causing him to stop hosting Miss Singapore Universe pageants. "It's a mind thing, but I feel that the audience in the studio and the people at home watching on TV are saying, 'Can that ugly thing just move away?'" he told Yahoo! Singapore early last year.

Perhaps it is heartaches and failures such as these that help Gurmit better portray Professor Chua, the protagonist in his latest movie Taxi! Taxi!. The comedy-drama is inspired by the book, Diary Of A Taxi Driver: True Stories From Singapore's Most Educated Cabdriver, which chronicles the experiences of real-life PhD researcher Dr Cai Mingjie who gets laid off after working for 16 years. Following a series of unsuccessful job interviews, he is forced to turn to taxi driving.

In walks a nosy, uneducated taxi driver, Ah Tau (Mark Lee), who takes the newbie under his wings and forges an unlikely friendship with him. Over time, the two men confide in each other about their personal struggles. Chua weaves a web of lies to hide his stint as a taxi driver, afraid that he will disappoint his family. Ah Tau, too, has been lying to his son, protecting him from the knowledge that his mother has ran away.

"I felt a sense of affiliation when I first read the script. My father became a taxi driver after he retired. I also love driving, so I thought this is going to be fun and gratifying in so many levels," Gurmit explains his enthusiasm for the role.

But unlike most of his defining comedic roles, Professor Chua is considerably more serious and emotional. Unknown to many Malaysian viewers, Gurmit has played a number of dramatic roles in the past, acting as a stern father in Shiver and the captain of a fire brigade in Lifeline.

But shedding his loud, boorish PCK image proved to be a challenge at first. "A lot of my friends would text me and say, 'where were the punchlines?' or 'how come you're not funny?' but eventually warmed up to the character after a few episodes," he shares.

In Taxi! Taxi!, Gurmit puts his acting chops to the test especially in two emotionally-charged scenes where his character is reduced to tears. He says it isn't so difficult to cry anymore, opining that fatherhood has helped him tap into his sentimental side.

He plans to take on more serious roles in the future, comparing his career trajectory to that of a Hollywood actor: "I've always likened my career path to Tom Hanks'. He started with Splash and other larger-than-life comedies and moved on to romantic comedies like Sleepless In Seattle before finally landing his breakthrough dramatic role Philadelphia."

Still, this by no means infer that Gurmit will completely cut off his comedic roots, though he says a revival of PCK Pte Ltd would be highly unlikely. "My philosophy is if you've reached your peak, that's when it should end. Don't keep at it until people start hating it. Then you would not have done justice to the character," he shares.

Gurmit is also glad that the pool of comedy actors is widening, with the introduction of fresh talents like Dr Jiajia (Chua Jin Sen) who plays as Ah Tau's son in the movie. The endearing seven-year-old actor is a YouTube sensation in Singapore, garnering over three million views and 16,000 Facebook followers so far.

When asked if he would consider taking his comedic acts to YouTube, Gurmit doesn't think he will jump on the bandwagon though he agrees the video-sharing site is a great platform to discover new talents and has "expanded comedy".

Taxi! Taxi! opens in cinemas nationwide on Thursday.

British film director Michael Winner dies at 77: wife

Posted: 21 Jan 2013 10:33 PM PST

LONDON: British film director Michael Winner, who made the violent thriller "Death Wish" and become a restaurant critic in later life, has died at the age of 77, his wife said on Monday.

Winner had been ill for some time and after a spell in hospital last year died at his home in the upscale west London district of Kensington, Geraldine Winner said in a statement.

"Michael was a wonderful man, brilliant, funny and generous. A light has gone out in my life," said his wife, who married Winner two years ago but had known him for half a century.

Winner's film career spanned more than 50 years and he worked with major stars including Marlon Brando, Robert Mitchum and Faye Dunaway.

But his biggest hit remained "Death Wish", in which a liberal architect played by late actor Charles Bronson becomes a vigilante following the murder of his wife and rape of his daughter. He also directed two sequels.

In later years Winner reinvented himself as a restaurant critic for Rupert Murdoch's Sunday Times newspaper.

His weekly column "Winner's Dinners" invariably featured a photograph of Winner posing with restaurant staff or his famous friends in exotic locations, alongside his outspoken opinions on the food.

Winner also became something of a cult figure after his catchphrase in a television advertisement for car insurance - "Calm down, dear" - was used by Prime Minister David Cameron in reference to a female opponent in parliament.

But he also took part in charitable work and established a memorial trust for police officers following the murder of female police constable Yvonne Fletcher outside the Libyan embassy in London in 1984.

Until November last year he was also a frequent user of Twitter, on which he described himself as "a totally insane film director, writer, producer, silk shirt cleaner, bad tempered, totally ridiculous example of humanity in deep shit."

His health declined in recent years after he acquired a bacterial infection from an oyster in Barbados in 2007 and he was admitted to hospital in late 2011 with food poisoning from steak tartare.

In 2012 he said in an interview with The Times that he had carried out research into the Dignitas Clinic in Switzerland regarding assisted suicide after liver specialists said he had as little as 18 months to live.

"I'm very happy to snuff it. I've had enough time on earth. I'd be happy if someone gave me the plug to pull," he said.-AFP

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

Selasa, 22 Januari 2013

The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies

The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies

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