In this article we will talk about the famous actor, screenwriter, stuntman and master of Thai boxing Tony Ja. His acclaimed action movie "Ong Bak", in which the child prodigy from Thailand played the main role, became his calling card.
The beginning of an actor’s career
Pan Yiram, better known to the whole world under the pseudonym Tony Ja, was born in 1976 in Thailand in a place called Surin. From childhood, the young man gravitated to practicing martial arts and acrobatics. For the first time on the screen, he appeared in the famous sci-fi action movie "Mortal Kombat-2" - there he was the understudy of Robin Shaw. In 2003, Tony Jah became famous all over the world by playing the super-action movie "Ong Bak": the actor in the title role played the character of Tiang. In the film, Ja, without insurance and special equipment, performed the most complicated acrobatic numbers and demonstrated the elegant technique of the ancient martial art of Muay Thai.
Movie Summary
The plot unfolds in a small Thai village called Nong Pradu. Ordinary people live here and young warriors study Thai boxing. The troubles begin with the fact that drug gangs kidnap the head of Ong Bak - a statue of Buddha, the main shrine of the village. The inhabitants of the settlement are indescribable grief, and they all agree that the head must be returned, otherwise the village will face great misfortunes. The young fighter Tiang dares to go in search of.
"Ong Bak": the main actor and the character of his hero
The character of the central character of Tiang is quite ordinary: he is a simple but fair country guy with the heart of a great warrior, ready to sacrifice everything, including his life, to bring the shrine back to the village. From an early age he studied the art of Thai boxing with his teacher. Upon completion of training, only one instruction from Tiang was received from him: "... forget everything that I taught you, and never apply it in life ...".
This oath at the beginning of the film fetters the young man in actions, since he does not have the right to engage in a duel. In street brawls, he does not use deadly blows, but only throws his opponents to the ground, without causing significant damage to them. Even when a gang of villains attacks him all together, he does not fight them, but runs away, demonstrating incredible and dangerous acrobatic numbers along the way without stunt doubles. Another indisputable advantage of the movie "Ong Bak": the actor, in addition to various types of saltos, performs jumps from parkour.
But in the future, restraining the instinct of a warrior becomes impossible. The main bandit, whose assistant and stole the shrine from the village of Tiang, relies on his fighter against the young master when he finds himself in a brothel where underground fights without rules take place. Tiang was forced to get here, as the Buddha’s head captor was hanging around somewhere nearby. Hero Tony Ja refuses to enter the ring: he just wanders around the hall in search of a thief. Then the European fighter begins to provoke Tiang, beating the Thai boy and girl. Confronted with the choice - either to keep the oath given to the teacher, or to neglect his promise and defend the innocent, Tiang chooses the second.
At this point, the main fights in the film begin, in which Ja shows the stunning acrobatic elements and the exquisite technique of mastering Muay Thai. In staged fights, it is noticeable how strongly the combat focus is on the knees and elbows - the hallmark of Thai boxing and the movie "Ong Bak". The actor also often performs beautiful kicks made in the best traditions of "Mortal Kombat-2".
Influence Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee
The actor was inspired by the dangerous stunts performed in the movie “Ong Buck” by watching a lot of films featuring two legends of action movies: Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee. As you know, these kung fu and acrobatics masters performed all the tricks in their films on their own, which on the screen looked simply magnificent. Thus, the preparation for the film "Ong Bak" took Tony J about three years. Unlike his idols, Ja planned to use the technique of Thailand’s native martial art in fights to promote this martial art and Thai culture in general.
Ong Bak: actors and supporting roles
In the film, it is worth noting the game Petchtai Wongkamlao, who played the role of Hamle. Hamle is the son of one of the villagers who moved to a big city to earn illegal money. Together with an accomplice, he takes part in gambling and deceives wins the savings of his opponents. Not surprisingly, small tricks are often revealed, and Hamle is constantly harassed by the troubles and thugs he owes.
Suhao Pongwilai played the main villain in Ong Bak. The actor plays the role of a disabled person paralyzed below the belt, having problems with the vocal cords, which is why he is forced to use a special apparatus so that others can hear his speech. He is a selfish and narcissistic distributor of stolen shrines of Buddhist monasteries. In addition to this dirty business, he trades with bets on clandestine fights, where his fighters, two of whom were played by Eric Marcus Schütz and Don Ferguson, are tearing the competitors to pieces, bringing fabulous money to their boss. It is these two pit bulls at certain moments in the film that meet the hero of Tony Jah, where he does not leave the villains any chance of victory.