If you have been paying attention to social media recently, you would have noticed there has been a saga going about about the Ah Boys To Men 4 audition being painted as racist because they asked someone to perform with a ‘thick Indian accent.’ 

Angered, Shrey Bhargava shared his experience on his Facebook page, which he said that he was asked to perform as a “full blown Indian man”, which involved him having to speak with a strong Indian accent. 

And even though Shrey felt strongly against it, he still went ahead and faked the accent but left the audition halls feeling extremely insulted.

“I wanted to decline to perform and say that they had the power to choose not to force an Indian accent on their Indian character, because that’d make them more authentically Singaporean, but I didn’t. I did it. I put on a fake Indian accent and performed and it felt horrible.”

And ever since then, many people have responded to Shrey’s Facebook post, and he has also taken the liberty to use his Facebook account as an outlet to stand up for such ‘racist’ acts in Singapore – mainly acts which ‘force’ actors to demean their own race or to exaggerate their ‘accents’ on screen. 

However, the producers have since responded to Shrey’s claims about the audition in a statement to the media.

According to an article from The Straits Times, a spokesperson clarified that Bhargava was asked to “try out different ways of presenting the role”, which included presenting as someone who speaks with an Indian accent.

“It is not uncommon during auditions that casting directors decide to test the versatility of actors by asking them to perform in a wide range of roles and characters, not necessarily always according to the script requirements.

“This process sometimes unravels performances that inspire directors with new ideas to further enhance character developments in their movies. At other times, knowledge of the actors’ versatility helps the casting directors in the casting of future productions. Actors attending such auditions therefore may not be able to draw accurate conclusions with respect to the portrayals of the roles without the context and final decision on the roles concerned.”

They also added that the director, Jack Neo, is fully aware of the sensitivities regarding race with his vast experience in making movies that are enjoyed by many Singaporeans of all races.

Well, nuff’ said.

But what I don’t understand is, that if you really did felt so strongly and adversely towards being ‘discriminated’ against your own race, why still go ahead and go through the auditions, fake the ‘thick Indian accent’ then go home feeling ‘disgusted’ and type a long ass Facebook rant about how discriminating the whole audition was?

I mean, if you really felt so badly about the situation you were in, why not take the chance to tell the producers off during the audition and walk out of there? At least you would have really stood up for what you feel is right. 

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This article was first published on Goodyfeed.com

Featured Image: Facebook (Ah Boys to Men)

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