GROWING UP FROM "AH BOYS" TO MEN

The line "art mirrors life" certainly holds some truth for Joshua Tan, the new star of Jack Neo's latest film Ah Boys To Men.

His character, Ken Chow, is a spoilt brat who hates National Service because his plans to study abroad together with his girlfriend were disrupted by his enlistment.

Coincidentally, the Singapore Permanent Resident (PR), who was originally from Australia, underwent a similar situation in real life two years ago: "My girlfriend went to Australia and I was supposed to join her, but because I'm a PR, I had to do my NS first, so I can understand why Ken Chow hates the Army so much!" said the 3rd Sergeant with a laugh.

Ironically, he found himself going through Basic Military Training (BMT) "twice". Barely a week after the words "ORD (Operationally Ready Date) loh" left his lips, the medic specialist was back at the start of his NS journey in Pulau Tekong.

"I just ORD-ed a week before filming started, so it was a bit of 'back to hell' for me," said the 18-year-old wryly. "It wasn't very fun shaving my head again, but revisiting everything (I'd gone through recently) was actually quite nice... It reminded me of all the good times I had during BMT, and I quite enjoyed myself."

Besides leading man 3SG (NS) Tan, the movie features several fresh faces as his fellow recruits. They follow certain colourful army stereotypes: the overly enthusiastic Wayang King (played by Maxi Lim) who wants to become an officer, the streetwise Lobang (played by Wang Wei Liang), and "big mouth" IP Man (played by blogger Noah Yap).

Also in the cast are veteran actors like Richard Low and Irene Ang, who play Ken's stern father and overprotective mother respectively. And look out for cameos by popular bloggers Mr Brown (who plays a captain) and Qiu Qiu (who plays Ken's girlfriend)!

Perhaps it comes as no surprise that Mr Neo's film centres around Ken's transformation during NS, a quintessential rite of passage for male citizens. After all, the film producer and director is well known for telling entertaining stories that explore societal issues which many Singaporeans grapple with.

Noting that 2012 marks the 45^th year of NS, he said: "Every generation of national servicemen have their own stories and experiences. Many people say that the new generation of soldiers have it much easier... but I've talked to many of them, and their training is still pretty tough."

"I hope that this film will allow people to understand why we need to serve NS and discover the meaning of NS."

While the film promises to entertain with a light comedic touch, Mr Neo revealed that there would also be plenty of exciting action scenes and use of CGI. Expect to see real Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) hardware such as Terrex Infantry Carrier Vehicles in action during a war scenario where the Singapore heartlands are invaded by enemy forces.

With support from the Ministry of Defence and SAF, the crew were also able to put several of the "recruits" through a two-day training programme to familiarise them with the military lifestyle and latest equipment used.

Singapore's first two-part local movie, Ah Boys to Men will hit theatres on 8 Nov. The second instalment will be released during Chinese New Year in 2013.