https://www.asiaone.com/entertainme...attack-acting-1st-chinese-drama-call-us-daddy
entertainment
Gurmit Singh shared that he had an anxiety attack when he acted in his first Chinese-speaking drama Baby Boom (right).
PHOTO: Screengrab/YouTube/Take Off TV, screengrab/Mewatch/Baby Boom
PUBLISHED ON April 04, 2025 6:13 PMByYeo Shu Hui
While Gurmit Singh played a happy-go-lucky man in his first Chinese drama Baby Boom (2003), it was actually quite the opposite for him behind the cameras.
In the latest episode of Allan Wu's talk show Call Us Daddy released yesterday (April 3), the 60-year-old revealed the opportunity to appear as one of the lead roles in that drama was a "mischievous" request gone wrong.
"Sometimes I should've just kept my mouth shut. What happened was, it was a mischievous day and I had an idea and went to artiste management and told them I have done many shows on Channel 5, but just to play around… can they get me a cameo role [in a Chinese drama] where I just come in and say one line… Just to have fun and see what Channel 8 is like," he shared.
Gurmit's manager told him later that he was offered a role in Baby Boom, which also stars local veteran actors Li Nanxing, Zoe Tay and Pan Lingling.
He received a stack of scripts for 20 episodes while still thinking that he was making a brief appearance.
"I didn't know why they gave me the scripts in the first place, so I asked my manager who I was playing and as I looked through the scripts, I realised there were a lot of lines," Gurmit recounted, adding he was told his lines had already been reduced.
As he did not have any experience speaking Mandarin — he learnt Malay in school — he hired a Chinese tutor who would go to his home close to midnight every day after he finished work to teach him how to read and pronounce his lines.
Gurmit explained: "She would teach me for about two hours. She would read my lines and I would record her, then listen and regurgitate it to her and she would correct me and tweak the pronunciation properly.
"Once I got the sound right, I would write down my own [version of] hanyu pinyin. She would also tell me what I was saying, because I didn't know what it meant."
He added that besides writing notes for his lines, he also wrote notes for the other actors' lines so that he understood their meaning and knew how to react.
"We would shoot about 20 scenes in one day… I tried to learn my lines at midnight, sleep at 2am and get up at 6am, with four hours of sleep, to report for work… I was trying so hard my brain got so fried up," he recalled.
"Every lunch hour I was just going through the scripts for the afternoon scenes and I only had one tuna sandwich every day."
Eventually, Gurmit's short sleeping hours and work stress took a toll on him.
"I remember I was filming outdoors and we were finishing filming on the seventh day. Suddenly I felt chest pain and my left hand went numb. I said, 'Oh s***, heart attack symptoms, this is how I die, speaking Chinese,'" he recounted.
Gurmit went to a hospital's Accident & Emergency Department after filming without telling anyone.
"They did a blood test and all and finally the doctor came out and said it wasn't a heart attack but an anxiety attack," he said.
He added that he had "never been anxious" and liked to play pranks on set while filming English-language projects to create a fun and enjoyable working environment, but while working on Baby Boom, he didn't have the energy because he was so focused on his script.
"Even when I slept at night, I would dream in Chinese and Chinese words," he said.
To help him cope with his situation, they reduced the number of his scenes by half, which helped him to complete filming eventually.
The drama did well and Gurmit was offered another role in a Chinese drama the following year, but he turned it down.
Despite that, over the years, Gurmit still appeared in a Mandarin variety show as well as Jack Neo's film Just Follow Law (2007), which he felt was more manageable because he only spoke Mandarin partially in the film.
"That project (film) was great for me in terms of my career because it got me a nomination in the Golden Horse Awards for Best Actor, which was quite a big thing back then because it was the first time a Singaporean got nominated," he added.
entertainment
'My brain got so fried up': Gurmit Singh hit by anxiety attack while acting in his 1st Chinese drama
Gurmit Singh shared that he had an anxiety attack when he acted in his first Chinese-speaking drama Baby Boom (right).
PHOTO: Screengrab/YouTube/Take Off TV, screengrab/Mewatch/Baby Boom
PUBLISHED ON April 04, 2025 6:13 PMByYeo Shu Hui
While Gurmit Singh played a happy-go-lucky man in his first Chinese drama Baby Boom (2003), it was actually quite the opposite for him behind the cameras.
In the latest episode of Allan Wu's talk show Call Us Daddy released yesterday (April 3), the 60-year-old revealed the opportunity to appear as one of the lead roles in that drama was a "mischievous" request gone wrong.
"Sometimes I should've just kept my mouth shut. What happened was, it was a mischievous day and I had an idea and went to artiste management and told them I have done many shows on Channel 5, but just to play around… can they get me a cameo role [in a Chinese drama] where I just come in and say one line… Just to have fun and see what Channel 8 is like," he shared.
Gurmit's manager told him later that he was offered a role in Baby Boom, which also stars local veteran actors Li Nanxing, Zoe Tay and Pan Lingling.
He received a stack of scripts for 20 episodes while still thinking that he was making a brief appearance.
"I didn't know why they gave me the scripts in the first place, so I asked my manager who I was playing and as I looked through the scripts, I realised there were a lot of lines," Gurmit recounted, adding he was told his lines had already been reduced.
As he did not have any experience speaking Mandarin — he learnt Malay in school — he hired a Chinese tutor who would go to his home close to midnight every day after he finished work to teach him how to read and pronounce his lines.
Gurmit explained: "She would teach me for about two hours. She would read my lines and I would record her, then listen and regurgitate it to her and she would correct me and tweak the pronunciation properly.
"Once I got the sound right, I would write down my own [version of] hanyu pinyin. She would also tell me what I was saying, because I didn't know what it meant."
He added that besides writing notes for his lines, he also wrote notes for the other actors' lines so that he understood their meaning and knew how to react.
'I felt chest pain and my left hand went numb'
Gurmit realised it was a tedious experience, but decided to "just try" because filming was already scheduled."We would shoot about 20 scenes in one day… I tried to learn my lines at midnight, sleep at 2am and get up at 6am, with four hours of sleep, to report for work… I was trying so hard my brain got so fried up," he recalled.
"Every lunch hour I was just going through the scripts for the afternoon scenes and I only had one tuna sandwich every day."
Eventually, Gurmit's short sleeping hours and work stress took a toll on him.
"I remember I was filming outdoors and we were finishing filming on the seventh day. Suddenly I felt chest pain and my left hand went numb. I said, 'Oh s***, heart attack symptoms, this is how I die, speaking Chinese,'" he recounted.
Gurmit went to a hospital's Accident & Emergency Department after filming without telling anyone.
"They did a blood test and all and finally the doctor came out and said it wasn't a heart attack but an anxiety attack," he said.
He added that he had "never been anxious" and liked to play pranks on set while filming English-language projects to create a fun and enjoyable working environment, but while working on Baby Boom, he didn't have the energy because he was so focused on his script.
"Even when I slept at night, I would dream in Chinese and Chinese words," he said.
Coping with Mandarin-speaking projects
Gurmit approached the executive producer of the drama with the intention to withdraw his participation but was told that he was "doing very well" and had good chemistry with the actors on screen.To help him cope with his situation, they reduced the number of his scenes by half, which helped him to complete filming eventually.
The drama did well and Gurmit was offered another role in a Chinese drama the following year, but he turned it down.
Despite that, over the years, Gurmit still appeared in a Mandarin variety show as well as Jack Neo's film Just Follow Law (2007), which he felt was more manageable because he only spoke Mandarin partially in the film.
"That project (film) was great for me in terms of my career because it got me a nomination in the Golden Horse Awards for Best Actor, which was quite a big thing back then because it was the first time a Singaporean got nominated," he added.
