Siriporn Wongsawad talks about her steady career in the tumultuous world of the Thai television industry

Story by ALONGKORN PARIVUDHIPHONGS

One can reach stardom in just a day, and fall from grace the very next. But that is not what happened to Siriporn Wongsawad. She is a survivor in a fiercely-competitive showbiz industry, and has been for over 40 years. Actress-turned-dubber Siriporn still makes public appearances and lends her singing voice on various TV outlets - be it on soap operas, dharma chat shows, Agony Aunt shows or aired singing contests for the elderly.

"Entertainment is in my blood. Once I hear the music, I cannot resist singing and dancing along," said Siriporn, who still looks graceful in her early sixties.

Siriporn is considered one of the pioneers of TV entertainment. She kicked off her showbiz career at 18 as an inspiring singer/dancer before joining Silapa Nathasilp Thai TV (Artists for Thai TV) - a training school that nurtured personnel to work in the industry for the now-defunct Thai TV Co Ltd - which ran Thai Television Channel 4 (now Channel 9). At school, the young Siriporn took every available lesson including traditional to modern dance, folk songs and Western music before she was recruited to work at the station.

"You'd be surprised to know that I was appointed to work in the advertising department first ... even though the big boss, Jamnong Rangsikul, had saw me dance."

At the time, the station already had a line-up of female stars, namely, Kanokwan Darnudom and Nanthawan Mekyai. And so, it took Siriporn some time to prove herself as a promising entertainer.

"He did not like my compact size and dark skin. So I worked as a backstage crew and in administration for a year," she recalled, chuckling.

Then on one fine day, Siriporn approached her boss with the idea that she wanted to run a music programme that could attract city dwellers to luk thung or folk songs. Siriporn, together with actor/dubber Rong Kaomoonkadee, offered to lend a hand and voice to the show Youwathad - an experimental show to test the market. The show became an instant hit, and Siriporn was immediately put in front and not behind the cameras.

"But I still had to do a lot of administrative stuff. In the past, everyone in the television business was expected to be versatile. Besides singing, I later became a puppeteer, a talk show host and an actress," she explained.

Fate had now begun to smile upon her. At 20, an actress-turned-TV series producer of Channel 4, Aree Nukdontri, asked Siriporn to perform in a new series. The sweet-faced entertainer agreed and unexpectedly chose to play the spoiled, malicious girl character instead of the nice girl in Kom Payabhat (Revengeful Cut).

"It was my choice to take the role of a bad girl. And the feedback turned out to be positive. My wicked portrayal did not hamper me from doing other roles later on," Siriporn said.

Her dubbing career skyrocketed when one dubber resigned. Siriporn was in the right place at the right time, as the boss was looking for a replacement.

"He said 'Take her to the dubbing room', but I was not prepared for this. For many, failing a live dubbing could be suicidal since you had to speak quickly and know how to handle unexpected situations," she said.

But Siriporn passed the test, and dubbing has since become her main repertoire. After Thai TV Channel 4 changed to Channel 9, Siriporn changed her job, too. She moved to Channel 3 to become a full-time dubber for martial arts series from Hong Kong, and worked part-time dubbing for rental videos.

"I got pregnant so I needed a stable job that would allow me enough free time to take care of my boy and my family," explained Siriporn, who now has two sons, aged 23 and 30, with her husband, a journalist.

However, her job did not provide this. Due to the high demands of martial arts series and Hollywood movies, Siriporn ended up working all day, and given little spare time to tend to her family.

"Somehow I felt like I was paying for my bad karma. When I was a kid I liked to put birds in a small cage and teach them to sing ... chirp. Working in the dark room with a pile of paper to voice out, I could not help but feel what goes around comes around," said the Buddhist actress.

Her name became the talk of the town when she dubbed the Japanese all-time-hit drama series, Ochin, with her own team, Siang Ek. "In fact, I had initially turned down the assignment because I didn't like Japanese series that much. But they kept calling me so I eventually decided to do it. Looking back now I know I would have regretted it had I not taken the project on.

"The series became an instant hit because of the dubber," Siriporn claimed. "I received an award from NHK and they thanked me for making the series such a big hit in Thailand. They said it did not get as much of an overwhelming response anywhere else in Asia. They even had the portrait of me holding the award placed inside the NHK building," explained Siriporn ("Ochin" was her tag name in the portrait).

The secret to Siriporn's crystal clear, bell-like voice is proper room temperature, water, honey and kluai nam wa, or banana.

Siriporn's other success story was when she decided to invest in the food industry. Some 20 years on, her restaurant, Kanab-nam, is highly recommended by the locals and mentioned in numerous tour guidebooks.

Her fame is a recipe of success? "Fame can help only the initial period. For it to last a long time though, your products and services must be of the highest quality," said the restaurant owner.

For the past 10 years Siriporn has sporadically emerged on a few TV series and dubbed for some TV programmes. This year, in particular, Siriporn has become a much sought-after talent again - hired to work on two dharma chat shows titled Pluek Tawan (Waking the Sun) on Thai TV Channel 9 and Hong Ni Si Kao (This is a White Room), which airs on the H-Plus channel cable television network. She also hosted Dan Chara, a singing contest over the phone for senior citizens.

"I myself come from a broken home. My mum died when I was four and my dad remarried. But I did not have an inferior complex growing up thanks to my grandma. She taught me the spirit of self-reliance and kindness based on Buddhist precepts. So I've used my life lessons to help my audience out," she said.

Siriporn doesn't stop at working on TV projects alone. Her latest project is to form a fund-raising musical theatre and collaborate with Thai TV Channel 9. Whether the project is a response to the hype and sudden popularity of show tunes or a reflection on the golden age of musical theatres on Thai television, Siriporn hopes to bring the musical Yajai Yajok (The Beggars Lover), one of her many legacies from yesteryear.

"We aim to promote a gem of Thai theatre and music heritage. This romantic story was a phenomenon 41 years ago and it featured songs by Kru Uer Soontornsanarn which we have not heard before."

According to Siriporn, Yajai Yajok was the first musical dance theatre in Thai television history. It was an instant success when it was aired on Channel 4, and audiences immediately requested for the live performance to be shown three or more times in that month.

"Never before did television audiences want the same show to be aired over and over. The title song [of the same name] also became popular," recalled Siriporn.

The original 30-minute show was given a new life when the production expanded the show to a two-hour performance set in an imaginary city in the not-so-far-away period when life was less chaotic. The staged spectacle includes newly-designed choreography, colourful costumes and given the new title, Monrak Wanipok or "Dream of the Vagabond".

Why did they not stick with the original title?

"No one would be interested to see the beggars lover, right? It would mislead them to think that the show will feature tattered characters and shabby scenes. So we modernised the musical and transformed it into a more eye-catching spectacle with an ear-pleasing fresh new title."

The new title associates with the gypsy-like lifestyle, which means it shifts the original concept of begging for a living to performing for a living - as a true vagabond does.

The extension of the sung-through musical is made possible thanks to the assistance of musician Charnyut Sa-kaew, a great fan of Kru Uer and founder of the Soontraporn band. Charnyut wisely ties 24 songs of Kru Uer's music with two royal compositions by His Majesty the King in a two-hour performance.

The tough part for the team was to find the musical notes for all selected numbers as many of them were performed only once or twice during Soontraporn's heyday.

"I gathered some singers such as Chomchai Arooncharn and we sang those songs so the composer could write the notes - one line after another. It was tough but fun."

Kru Uer's music would definitely appeal to the old fans, while the introduction of contemporary actors and Western stage techniques would attract the younger generations.

The inherent risk of promoting Soontraporn's music is that the show would attract only the contemporary aspects of the band and not the newer generations that usually regards the songs as a dated legacy.

"That's why we recruited current heart-throbs and re-arranged the music to sound more modern so that the younger generations can musically and emotionally connect with the show."

The show aims to raise funds for a royal cause. The musical presents a mix of contemporary and veteran performers. The cast includes teenage sweethearts such as Sarawut Martthong, Pannada Ruengwut, Yaya-Ying Ratha Bhodi-ngarm and legendary stage performers including Kamthorn Suwanpiya, Kanokwan Darn-udom and Rong Kaomoonkadee. Siriporn will only lend her signature voice to narrate the show.

"My main responsibility is to produce the musical. Still, I couldn't help being a part of it," she said, chuckling.

Although the revival of the musical was first scheduled to be performed mid-December, the murky political situation forced Siriporn and her team, Bangkok 226, to hold off the show until April next year. But Siriporn still maintains a high spirit. After all, she has been through many ups and downs in showbiz over the past 40 years.

"I love showbiz. It opened many doors of opportunities for me and have me the opportunity to reach so many achievements. I do it not for the money and then flee. I am here to stay."