Anna and the King - 1999

Anna and the King

“So are you Anna?” was the one liner email that I received from my cousin Sashi in India when I had written to my cousins there that I was selected to act in this movie.

I was a little confused because I had written in great detail as to the role I was playing and the names of my very famous co-stars so I was a little irritated and replied “Hey cousin, read my email carefully and you will know the answer”. He wrote back “so are you Anna?”  Irritation level hit 10 on the Richter scale and I ignored his email.

5 years later when I visited India sitting in his dining room having tea with him, he asked me why I did not reply to his email. I had no clue as to what he was referring to. “I sent you an email asking if you were Anna!” “Well if you watched the movie you would have seen that I played Anna’s maid, Bebee” I replied. That sent him reeling on the floor laughing hysterically. I just sat there starring at him and finally when he regained composed he said still sniggering “Shanthi, I asked you if you were playing the role of the  elephant?” “Huh?” was my response. I found out that my cousin was being cheeky when he wrote me that one liner. ‘Anna’ (pronounced ‘aanaa’ in Malayalam) means elephant.

I swatted his head with a newspaper and he teased no more!!

Getting the role of Bebee- the nanny to Anna’s son- was something I never ever imagined would be part of my CV. How many actors in Malaysia can claim to have acted in a Hollywood movie of this magnitude? Well….we did have over 2000 Malaysians who played extras in the movie but that doesn’t count! I got a major minor role!!! And I would act along side Jodie Foster cast as Anna even though she didn’t look anything like an elephant and Chow Yuen Fatt, a mega star in the Chinese film industry cast as the King.

I went for the first audition with 9 million other people who got called for casting as well.

I met the casting director Priscila John

NOT FINISHED