The tagline goes "Blasting mountains, torching huts". That's how the action films of Chalong Pakdivijit are usually described, for his legendary productions are known to be full of explosions, gunfire, intense fighting and villages being burned at the hands of the villains before the heroes arrive to save them. For five decades Chalong, now an 87-year-old National Artist, has been Thailand's best-known action auteur, on both the cinema and television screens.
Now the legacy has been passed on.
Chalong's three children -- Gun, Boonjira and Cherdboon -- are the team behind the action-packed primetime series Angkor 2018, airing on Channel 3 HD at the moment. This is the sibling's remake of their father's biggest TV hits in 2000, followed by a sequel in 2005, on Channel 7. Since it has gone on air on Aug 24, the series has garnered high ratings and sparked conversation about the story and what's been updated from the well-known original.
Directed and produced by the youngest Cherdboon, Angkor 2018 took one year of filming followed by two years' work on CGI and editing. Back in 2000, Cherdboon was also involved in the original production, as an apprentice at the tender age of 20.
"As a kid, I didn't take an interest in my father's work and it was an outing and playtime when he took me to the locations," recalled Cherdboon. "In my late teens, I realised that I wanted to follow in his footsteps and asked for on-the-job training when he did Angkor."
The training mostly involved walking after his father, who didn't say much but showed him how to do the job, which Cherdboon absorbed over the years.
Angkor 2018, adapted from Norman Weeratham's novel, is an action story with a supernatural element -- a recipe for success for Thai television. The title refers to the leading character: Angkor is a female medical student who, as a child, has been possessed by the spirit of a tiger shot dead by her father, an army general. The spirit will take total control of Angkor when she turns 25, and she can only be saved by a silver dagger hidden deep in the forest.
Finding the dagger takes Angkor and her police-beau on a fantastical and action-packed adventure across a treacherous island, valleys and burial grounds while being chased by a bunch of bad guys. First-timer Suphaphorn "DJ Boom" Wongthuaithong portrays Angkor in this version.
"Angkor is an enthralling mix of action, fantasy and adventure, as well as a period piece set in 1954 and 1979," said Cherdboon. "A major difference from the original is the CGI effects, used for the tiger, fantasy and romantic scenes. We had a bad impression of tiger CGI, but were lucky to find a CGI artist who made this version's tiger come to life with eye contact, facial expressions and physical movements as if really leaping into the camera."
"In the original a real tiger -- often moody and sleepy -- was used in the production. It nearly ruined the set. Luckily the tiger didn't get upset; otherwise, it might have attacked us," he added, recalling the thrill of filming the original Angkor.
"It's easier doing an original production because you can stretch your imagination," Cherdboon said. "Remakes are more difficult because viewers know the plot and have expectations. That said, I have redesigned certain scenes and characters, though the deviations always return to the original storyline."
Cherdboon includes a new character, a village head named Phard, played by his brother Gun Pakdivijit, who's a mainstay actor in every version of Angkor. Gun made his debut in Raya (1998), his father's first TV series for Channel 7. Two years later, he assumed the role of a young forester named Pha in Angkor, and five years later as Pha's relative in the sequel.
"I have outgrown Pha, and in this new version I become Phard, his brother, which is a more fitting and mature character for my age," the 40-something actor said of his special appearance in Angkor 2018.
He observes how viewers have embraced the new version even though they previously ignored the action genre.
"The positive feedback is encouraging for us in reviving our father's classics on the small screen while updating them for a new generation of viewers," said Gun, who also did a remake of Chalong's Songkram Pleng.
Chalong's daughter Boonjira Pakdivijit is also active in continuing the legacy of her father. Her big project is a remake of Raroengchol, which first came out in 1972 and featured two of the biggest stars of those days: Sombat Metanee and Petchara Chaowarat. Her version has been completed and is ready to air next year.
"Viewers always come first. Our father taught us that we can't do whatever we like, and have to consider whether it will appeal to the viewers," said Boonjira, who was an airline employee before joining her brothers in the family business.
"He's known for a fast-paced, extreme-action filmmaking style. Even in a love scene, there can be a bomb explosion to interrupt the romance," she said of her father. "We are not extremists and we are developing our own signatures in producing TV series, by blending fresh flavours with his filmmaking recipe."
