“No ropes and no CGI!” - The principle of the Thai film actor, stuntman, choreographer and director specializing in martial arts films, Tony Ja (Pan Yirum). This interesting person developed his superhuman jumping ability from childhood. To do this, he hopped on the backs of elephants, which his parents bred. Baby elephants gradually grew, while Tony's jumping ability increased, his skill increased.
Tony Ja. Biography
Tony was born in northern Thailand on February 5, 1976. From childhood, he liked to watch action films with the participation of Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, Jet Li. He was so fascinated by martial arts that he began to engage in Thai boxing. The young man practiced those blows that he saw in films many times, until they became what they should have been.
From the age of twelve, the young man dreamed of becoming a martial arts star. He was engaged in various martial arts, fencing, gymnastics. The father did not take seriously his son’s hobbies and even forbade him to deal with this matter, but Ja threatened him with suicide, so his dad could only reconcile. He even began to train his son, as he had the experience of coaching in martial arts. Training took place every day and lasted six to seven hours.
Sign meeting
When the boy was ten years old, he learned about the Thai stuntman and director P. Rittikray. At thirteen, he asked the master to train. Since then, he began to help on the set: brought water, cooked, held an umbrella over the camera, and so on.
Already at the age of fifteen, Tony became a real student of P. Rittikray. At the same time, on his recommendation, he begins to study at the school of physical education, studying various martial arts. And every weekend the young man studied acting and stunts.
Even in his youth, Tony Ja won many times in various sports, winning only gold medals. He was the chairman of a sword fighting club and was invited to China on several occasions to demonstrate Thai martial arts.
Beginning of an acting career
After some time, Tony Ja becomes a stuntman in the Rittikray team. Together they are interested in the ancient Muay Boran style, and intensive training begins. At this time, Ja develops his own style, combining gymnastics and Muay Thai.
After several years, a short film is released, where Tony showed all his abilities. The film was seen by director P. Pinkay, and the stuntman was invited to the main role in his new film. Prior to this, Tony Jah, whose biography is quite fascinating, had experience in the movie, as he had previously duplicated actors in both advertising and several films. I must say that the first steps as a stuntman Ja made in ten films, which brought him some profit.
In 2003, the film "Ong Bak: Thai Warrior" was released. In this film, the viewer saw the most complicated stunts with high-speed battles and quite extreme acrobatics. Tony performed all these tricks himself, so no computer graphics or other mechanical means were involved in the film. The success was waiting for the picture, and the stuntman himself became the star of Asian fighters. The audience eagerly awaited films featuring Tony Ja.
The next successful film, shot by Ja, Pinkay and Rittikray, was released in 2005 under the title “Dragon Honor” (also known as “Thai Dragon”). This picture was a huge success, so in 2006 it was released in the United States under the name "Defender".
Defender was the most successful Thai film released in the West. Thanks to this, Tony began to stage shows already outside of Thailand.
In 2006, Jah tries himself as a director in the film "Ong Bak 2". The picture was published in 2008, and in 2010 the film "Ong Bak 3" was shot.
Personal life
Tony Ja, all of whose films were shot without using computer graphics, loves his parents very much. He bought them a huge mansion in two floors, where they now live. But they did not begin to demolish the old small house, it stands nearby in the garden as a reminder to the famous actor about his childhood.
Today, Jah has a huge number of plans that are related to future films and directing.
Filmography
Tony starred in many films, and they all had great success with the viewer. With incredible abilities, the actor and stuntman constantly amazes idols with his skill.
With the participation of Jah, the following paintings were published: “Mortal Kombat. Extermination ”(1997),“ He Buck ”(2003),“ Bodyguard ”(2004),“ Honor of the Dragon ”(2005),“ Bodyguard 2 ”(2007),“ He Buck 2 ”(2008),“ He Buck 3 ”(2010),“ Honor of the Dragon 2 ”(2013),“ Man will grow ”(2014),“ Slave trade ”(2014). These are the best films from Tony Jah.
In 2015, the release of the movie "Fast and the Furious 7" is expected, which will become the Thai Hollywood debut.
Muay Thai
As Tony Jah himself says, he wanted to show the whole world the other side of Muay Thai, completely opposite to the one that everyone sees while watching the fighting in the ring. Ja wanted to convey to people the Thai culture that developed thousands of years ago.
So, the main task of Muay Thai was originally to help the warrior survive in the war after he became unarmed. The main emphasis in technology is placed on the development of the skills of a fighter without any weapon to fight an armed enemy. The emphasis here is on disabling the enemy with the help of quick destructive strikes. The technique has Buddhist roots, so a lot of time is devoted to meditations in preparation to achieve the highest form of concentration of the mind.
In his films, Tony Ja not only successfully demonstrates the ability to conduct fights using martial arts, but also conveys the ancient culture of Thailand to the viewer. Maybe that's why all the films with his participation I want to review again and again.