SG60 anthology film Kopitiam Days: Director Don Aravind on setting inter-faith romance against Hotel New World collapse, Entertainment News

AsiaOne

2 days ago

While director Don Aravind was inspired by his father's recounts of the 1986 Hotel New World tragedy, the real backstory of his short film One Last Song in the SG60 anthology Kopitiam Days was based on his observations in everyday life.
"My inspirations come from real-life events or people that I meet or talk to, because there's always a story that needs to be worth telling," the 42-year-old told AsiaOne in an interview recently.
Kopitiam Days, which is supported by Infocomm Media Development Authority and Singapore Film Commission, is an anthology of six shorts which features Singapore in the past, present and future. Each of the stories is independent, but the kopitiam Heap Seng Leong is a common place in all the characters' lives.
The film is produced by local director Eric Khoo, who is the film's creative director and executive producer, and Lim Teck, managing director of Clover Films.
Don's One Last Song tells the story of the forbidden love between Michael (Stephen Zechariah) and Latha (Keerthana) that continues on even after a heart-breaking loss in the Hotel New World collapse.
On March 15, 1986, the Lian Yak Building, located at the junction of Serangoon Road and Owen Road and which housed Hotel New World, collapsed due to structural defects and poor-quality construction.
It was considered one of the worst disasters in post-war Singapore. The rescue operation lasted over four days and involved more than 500 personnel from the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), Singapore Fire Service, Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) and foreign experts. Rescuers pulled out 17 survivors and the bodies of 33 people were retrieved from the rubble.
When asked why he chose to centre the short on this disaster, Don shared: "We are so privileged and sheltered... when I tried to recollect how the early days were, I would remember my dad talking about the Hotel New World tragedy periodically and how the nation came to a standstill."
He added he had always thought about setting a story based on this historical event and when Eric approached him to contribute to the SG60 film, emphasising that it needs to be "moving", his heart just "gravitated" towards this event.
"It's just something that I felt there was a connection to it... so it was a very natural thing to just tell it," he said. 'Whatever love has lost, it comes back to us in different ways'
Don said Michael and Latha's forbidden romance stemmed from his interest in inter-faith relationships.
"I think for me, growing up, I've always been quite intrigued by, why is there a big problem when there are inter-faith relationships? As a teenager, I would hear stories of people seeing someone [of a different religion] and their reaction would be like, 'No way' and it's something that you are just told not to do.
"So I always wondered, why is there a barrier? Love is love, what has faith or religion got to do with it?"
He emphasised that his intention wasn't to advocate, but rather, to present a love letter: "I just think when we remove all that, at the heart of it, it's just a story of a young man who is really in love with a woman."
Besides romance, Don also wished to convey that "whatever love has lost, it comes back to us in different ways".
He explained: "The story is a tragedy but it doesn't mean their love dies in that sense. So I think that's what the story encompasses in the end and it translated into different forms. Even though Michael's relationship ends in tragedy, it translates into acceptance from Latha's family and resilience, such as his relationship with his father."
Ultimately, One Last Song is also about cherishing our loved ones.
"If something is very tender and sweet, just cherish it, because things can happen in just a snap of a finger," Don shared.
He added that his experiences came from his interactions with people while working as a documentary director on human stories for TV channel Vasantham years ago.
"When I meet people who have experienced tragedies and spend a lot of time with them, [I understood that] life can really change in a moment," he said.
Kopitiam Days will be shown through community screenings at the following locations and dates: Tampines Changkat Community Club: Aug 16
Our Tampines Hub: Aug 26, 27, 31 and Sept 27
One Punggol: Sept 6
More information will be made available on the respective Facebook pages of the venues. The film will also be subsequently released on streaming platforms.
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