Drama Series of No Dram of Mercy

Elaine gets personal in role of grand-aunt Sybil Kathigasu

Dec 10, 2009

IPOH: Former Miss Malaysia-Universe Elaine Daly gets personal when playing World War Two heroine Sybil Kathigasu in a drama series because she is retracing the bravery of a loved one.

“The producer had no prior knowledge that Sybil is my grand-aunt.

“It is a real honour and a rarity for me to play the role of a nation’s heroine,” she said in an interview while taking a break during filming in Papan.

When she was a child, Elaine’s father used to tell her that Sybil was a tough woman who opposed the Japanese invaders and helped the resistance fighters during the war.

Portrayal of a heroine: Elaine playing the part of Sybil in a scene from the drama series that is being filmed in Papan.

“My dad said my grand-aunt was tortured by the Japanese.

“I later learnt more about Sybil when I read her book No Dram of Mercy,” she added.

To be able to film the eight-part series for Astro Suatu Ketika series on the actual site where Sybil had once lived was also a huge deal for Elaine.

“It makes the acting more real when done in the original site rather than in a make-believe location,” she said.

Sybil was the wife of Ipoh DR. Abdon Clement Kathigasu. Both of them were repeatedly tortured by the Kempetai.

She was also made to witness the brutality of her husband being beaten and later, the horror of seeing her six-year-old daughter Dawn being strung upside down from a tree.

For her courage and sacrifices, Sybil was awarded the George Medal, the highest British civilian award for bravery by King George VI

She died in 1948 from acute septicaemia due to a jaw fractured by the kick of a Japanese boot.

The role of Dr Kathigasu is played by Paraneetharan Damodaran, a project manager of a Telco Company In Kuala Lumpur.

Paraneetharan said it was his first screen role and it was tough.

He had not heard of Sybil as a student as she did not appear in the history books he had read.

“Her story should be in our history books. Only then would people become more aware of how our nation was built,” he said.

Playing Dawn in the series is eight-year-old Venus Beals while Sharon Alaina Stephen, a final year student from Segi College, plays her elder sister Olga.

The series, directed by Bernard Chauly, is expected to be shown on Astro Citra next month.

Source :www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp