'I grew up watching a lot of Indian movies': Oscar-winning actor Michelle Yeoh

Michelle Yeoh. Pic/AFP

Oscar-winner Michelle Yeoh says she watched many Indian movies while growing up in a multi-racial society in Malaysia and hopes her new film Wicked clicks well with the audiences here as it is a musical.

Yeoh, who won the best actor Oscar for her role in Everything Everywhere All At Once in 2023, reunites with Crazy Rich Asians (2018) director Jon M Chu for the big-screen adaptation of the hit broadway musical, Wicked. She stars as Madame Morrible in the movie, which is her first musical.
"I grew up in Malaysia and we're a multi-racial society and I have many Indian friends. In fact, I grew up watching a lot of Indian movies. Even when as a young child, I knew how to sing Indian [songs]. I'm familiar with Indian culture and cinema. I have many idols in the [Indian] cinema as well. I think Wicked will go down well with our Indian friends," said Yeoh.

The actor, 62, said while she was terrified at the prospect of singing in the movie, she has always loved musicals as a genre because of their ability to transport viewers to a different kind of world.

"It's a fantasy world where people, instead of talking, suddenly break out into song and dance, and I love that," she added.

One of the big reasons for Yeoh to star in the movie was Chu, whose film Crazy Rich Asians is credited for being the first major Hollywood hit to feature an entirely Asian cast in a modern setting since The Joy Luck Club (1993).

Yeoh said she and many others have been fighting for this change for a long time and a lot of the credit goes to storytellers like Chu. She explained, "So many of us have been fighting to create these opportunities. Sometimes we demand to have these changes because I think we should have equal opportunities to be able to showcase our talent in front and behind the camera as well."

Wicked is inspired by the broadway show of the same name and serves both as a prequel and a relook at the classic film, Wizard of Oz (1939).

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