Scandal on and off the screen

THERE WAS PLENTY of controversy in the Thai film industry over the last 12 months with both censorship and lawsuits hitting the headlines, but few revelations have shocked film fans as much as the news that film studio GTH was breaking up.
GMM Tai Hub, which marked its 11th anniversary this year, is undoubtedly the most powerful and successful film studio of its era, reigning supreme at the box office with a string of top-grossing Thai films. The company broke records with the 2013 horror comedy “Pee Mak Phra Khanong”, which was the first Thai film to earn Bt1 billion.
But the studio is breaking up, its executives announced, as a result of differences over a stock market listing plan.
GTH is 51-per-cent owned by entertainment conglomerate GMM Grammy, which provides the investment, while Tai Entertainment’s Visut Poolvoralaks has a 30-per-cent stake and Hub Ho Hin holds a 19-per-cent stake.
Visute wanted GTH to seek a listing on the Stock Exchange of Thailand but Hub Ho Hin didn’t agree. The Hub Ho Hin team, led by Jina Osothsilp, producer-director Jira Maligool and Yongyoot Thongkongtoon, said they preferred to focus on producing quality films and TV programmes without having to deal withpressure from investors.
The GTH partners won’t be leaving the film business, and are planning to release films as separate entities.
Despite GTH’s success as a trusted brand, industry observers don’t see the break-up as negative, pointing out that the directors – and probably most of the staff – will still be involved in filmmaking. XP shares the view of other pundits that Hub will continue to produce movies in the signature GTH feel-good style, while Visute will more than likely spread his wings and offer a variety of films.
Before joining GTH, Visute was an outstanding film producer and well known for giving opportunities to talented directors to work in different genres. Indeed, his Tai Entertainment gave birth to the popular teenage film genre, debuting with “Suem Noi Noi Kalon Mak Noi” and continuing with the fantasy tale “Khootae Song Loke” and the heart-warming children’s movie “Pookpui”.
Tai was also an important contributor to the New Thai Cinema movement with the productions of “2499 Anthaphan Krong Muang” and “Nang Nak” by Nonzee Nimibutr. The company then worked with Hub Ho Hin on “Satree Lek” (“The Iron Ladies”) and the 2003 blockbuster “Fan Chan” (“My Girl”), which eventually led to the forming of GTH.
And in the early days, GTH didn’t focus exclusively on the feel-good or horror genres. There was comedian Jaturong Ponlaboon’s cross-drssing comedy “Tud Soo Fud” (“Kung Fu Tootsie”), which did modestly well at the box office, and the sci-fi fantasy “Kradueb” (“Cool Gel Attack”), which flopped.
GMM Grammy has yet to say whether it will be investing in either or both of the new studios but one thing is certain: film buffs can expect an exciting year as both lend their imaginations to new projects.

Jaa’s dilemma
Despite a hiatus from the gossip columns for the best part of two years, Thai action hero Phanom “Tony Jaa” Yeerum was back in the public eye earlier this year, and it didn’t show him in a particularly good light.
After tearing up his contract with Sahamongkol Film two years ago and not bothering to help promoting the big budget project “Tom Yum Goong 2”, on which he worked on with his late mentor Panna Rittikrai and director Prachya Pinkaew, Jaa joined up with his new manager Michael Selby and landed parts in international projects, including “Fast and Furious 7” and the Hong Kong actioner “SPL 2”.
But just as “Furious 7” was about to be released, Jaa found himself in hot water when a Thai court banned the latest instalment of the blockbuster franchise as the result of the contract dispute between the actor and Sahamongkol.
Sahamongkol filed a lawsuit stating that Jaa was in breach of contract for appearing in the film, because he was committed to them exclusively until 2023. However, after the film distributor UIP appealed to the court, the ban was lifted and both “Furious 7” and later “SPL 2” screened without further ado, earning plenty of money as well as accolades. However, a third film “Skin Trade”, produced by Selby and starring Dolph Lundgren, Ron Perlman and Jaa, was considerably less successful.
Later in the year, Jaa’s former boss, Somsak “Sia Jiang” Techaratanaprasert called off the pending breach-of-contract lawsuit and ended all legal actions against him, saying that he wanted to let the actor follow his own path and let bygones be bygones.
The martial-arts hero said he appreciated Sia Jiang for stating clearly that he was now free to pursue his career and was grateful to the studio for removing a major roadblock to his acting ambitions.

Changes made after censorship
Hardly a year goes by without at least one Thai film falling afoul of the Culture Ministry’s censors. This year it was the Buddhist-themed horror “Arbat”, which was banned for its scenes of a novice monk kissing a girl.
The ban came as a shock to rookie director Kanittha Kwunyoo and was imposed after the release of the trailer, which showed a monk touching a girl’s cheek and escorting her to his cell.
Producer Prachya Pinkaew and the director got around the ban by re-editing the movie to remove the controversial scenes, taking about three minutes off its length.
In addition to the offending kiss, other removed images included the novice lifting a Buddha image by its head. The movie’s title was also changed, from “Arbat”, which specifically refers to monastic sin, to “Arpatti”, a similar-sounding word that basically has no meaning.
Director Kanitta emerged from the experience hardened by the realities of censorship but pointed out that “Arpatti” told the story of a misbehaving youth whose parents force him to be ordained in the hope he will mend his ways. The film, she insists, is about being able to tell right from wrong and being aware of the consequences of karma
In some ways, the controversy helped the movie. Had it not been banned, it probably would have achieved box-office takings of just Bt10 million and left the cinema quietly. However, intrigued movie-goers were quick to spread complimentary comments about the film and it eventually earned some Bt52 million.
And the very nature of censorship was challenged recently when transgender director Tanwarin Sukkhapisit sued the film board for banning her 2010 film “Insects in the Backyard” on the grounds that explicit scenes and content were contrary to morality.
Earlier this month, the administrative court said the movie is not against the law and that its story reflects a family relationship problem. The verdict that orders the film board to lift the ban is expected to be officially announced tomorrow.