PCK’s Ah Ma is a ‘lian’ at heart
August 25th, 2010
Posted in Chinese Entertainment, newsfeed by spcnet.tv | No Comments »
The endearing Ah Ma in the TV sitcom may be the one who speaks perfect English but in Phua Chua Kang The Movie, Neo Swee Lin delivers her Hokkien lines – in her distinctive hoarse voice – with such flair, it is actually music to the ears.
Her pitch-perfect delivery of the dialect is so easy on the ears that this reporter is almost convinced – after the movie’s press screening – that the theatre thespian could be a closet “Ah Lian”.
Even the press conference of PCK move was at times punctuated with Ah Ma’s somewhat uncouth yet extremely entertaining Hokkien repartee with the cast accompanied by her interesting body gestures, which got the media in stitches.
So is Swee Lin really a “lian” at heart?
By her own admission, and echoing her real-life husband and co-star Lim Kay Siu’s sentiment, Swee Lin “embraces her inner lian” these days. She told xinmsn during an interview with the PCK cast.
“But how did you know that?” Swee Lin exclaimed in surprise to the spot-on probe about her being a “lian” at heart.
Hyped up over the revelation, the veteran actress who is a Hokkien-Baba decided to let us in on a little skeleton in her cupboard.
“My name is Winifred Neo Swee Lin so in Chinese, my name is Liang Rui Lian,” the bubbly actress explained.
“It was never an issue for many years until I did Chinese dramas, and they asked me to write my name – this was in the 80s – and I don’t want to be known as an “Ah Lian”!
“So I told them it’s Liang Rui Lin!” (Laughs)
Tickled by her own funniness, a giggling Swee Lin broke into throaty guffaws with such great comic effect that it is hard for anyone in the interview room to stay poker-faced.
“Anyhow, recently I’ve decided to reclaim my last name; actually “Lian” refers to a lotus so it’s wonderful,” said Swee Lin.
Now that we managed to wring the inner Ah Lian out of her, does that mean Swee Lin’s partaking of the Singlish-Hokkien-Mandarin-laden PCK movie was nothing but a piece of cake?
Apparently not.
“Actually the script is all in English and then at the side it says [speak] in Hokkien so that’s a lot of pressure.”
“So having Henry [Thia] and Irene [Ang] around who can help to confirm [my diction] and boost my confidence in my Hokkien help. Perhaps that’s why it feels so natural when I do it.”
Produced by Scorpio East Pictures and distributed by Golden Village, “Phua Chu Kang The Movie” opens in theatres today.
