Petch Klang Fai and Its Author

A new pairing is coming soon to grace a small screen near you: Petch Klang Fai, starring Mai Warit and Mew Nitha. What captured my attention the most is that this lakorn is based off of a novel with the same name, written by the award winning writer, professor, and mother: Dr. Winitchaikun. She’s my hero, really.

Her repertoire includes Rattanakosin, Malai Sam Chai, Punyachon Gon Krua and several other critically acclaimed novels. Dr. Winitchaikun (or Khun Ying as many would call her) has started writing from a very young age. As the only child in her family, books were her best friends. She excelled through school until she reached the highest level of education and earned her PhD. Her mother wanted her to be a professor, but she wanted to pursue writing. She never thought her writing was better than any of her colleagues, because everyone at the time had the ability to write well, but writing happened to be her calling.

What I found admirable about her writing are the poetic verses, the astute viewpoint of society at that setting, and the knowledge and argument that gets instilled by the time you flip to the last page. However my most favorite aspect of her stories lie in a strong hero and heroine. She simply writes the best heroes. One who is honorable, sharp as a whip and romantic.

Petch Klang Fai is no exception. This lakorn is a period drama about a princess (duchess) named Mom Jao Ying Urawasee (Mew Nitha), who survives a rough upbringing (hence the word “fire” in the title). She’s the youngest daughter of a prince – born from the newest wife whom he dotes on the most– which causes jealousy and rage from the first wife, Mom Dtuan. Upon his death, the first wife tries to eliminate any inheritable persons from the family to ensure that she and the three daughters would solely inherit the prince’s wealth. Despite the contentions, Urawasee is like a diamond in the rough and she overcomes their bullying with her strong backbone yet kind traits.

She meets our hero, Anon (Mai Warit) who is a normal civil servant. The title is apt to describe his story as well. He falls in love with Urawasee even before knowing that she’s born of nobility, unfortunately when he finds out that their barrier is the social custom, he succumbs to writing her letters and poetries. Their encounters are ones of hidden longing since they cannot reveal to the public how they feel about each other, nor could Anon court a noble princess, but they always engage in intellectual conversations and their encounters make us (viewers/readers) feel carried away by their love.

Unfortunately Anon gets accused of being an accomplice to treason and gets sent to jail (though the true culprits are his brother and disabled uncle). Anon took the fall because he knew his uncle isn’t capable of withholding time in jail and his brother is beloved son to his father (who also hightailed out of there), so Anon figured he’s the strongest to endure this, both physically and mentally. Through the trials and misunderstanding, Anon still manages to come out of it stronger, because he too is a diamond in the rough. Eventually his uncle turns himself in, unable to see his innocent nephew suffer.

There are a lot of plots and subplots to the story, but at the end of the day, I hope this is romance centric. Both characters are smart and loveable in their own way, and through their perseverance, they will be met with their happily ever after. TV Scene is spearheading this lakorn, which based on their long line of quality work, we can expect excellent cinematography, and perhaps a story that stays true to the novel. However the downfall that I notice about TV scene’s lakorns is the slow pacing. I am hoping that they are able to give us enough tension and riveting romance in order to move the story forward. One thing I noticed about the writer though, is that even though she has signed an agreement with Channel 3, she is keen and smart enough to ensure and discuss with the producers beforehand of her reluctance to change certain things about the story, especially if it is to the detriment of the original story. I love that she’s very hands on with her stories, because like she said in an interview a couple of years ago, if she’s not protective of her own intellectual property, no one else will. Preach, Khun Ying, preach. And for that, I will always admire her work. Let’s hope TV Scene, Mew and Mai Warit could bring her vision to life.

This lakorn is slated to air during the midweek timeslot, and I believe it is up next in Channel 3’s lakorn lineup. Stay tuned for Petch Klang Fai, I mean look at the photos below, he’s just swoony.