Tatler Weekend Malaysia: ‘How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies’ makers on what truly matters

The success of the film How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies (originally released in Thailand under the title Lahn Mah) has made it a prime example of Thailand’s soft power beyond its borders. According to its studio, GDH 599, the film has grossed over ฿339 million (about US$10.3 million) in Thailand and over ฿1.92 billion (US$58.61 million) worldwide as of September 20, outpacing previous Thai blockbusters such as Pee Mak (2013) and Bad Genius (2017). It has become the highest-grossing Asian film of all time in Indonesia, while it is now the highest-grossing Thai film in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Myanmar, Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

The movie has also reached cinemas in South Korea and in the US, where it won the Audience Award at the 2024 New York Asian Film Festival in July. It will premiere later this year in the UK and Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium and India; and in Russia at the beginning of 2025. In a development that is set to boost its reach even further, Netflix acquired the rights to the film and has begun streaming it in Southeast Asia in September, with other territories slated in the months to come.

It comes as no surprise that the National Federation of Thai Film Associations (MPC) has selected it to represent Thailand as its submission for the best international feature film category at the 97th Academy Awards. Not only is the selection the latest achievement for the blockbuster, but it also represents the culmination of the work of director Pat Boonnitipat and his team, powered by the backing of its studio.

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Since its inception in 2015, The/Nudge Institute has been working to eradicate poverty in India, building on the astonishing progress the country has made to reduce poverty rates from 80 per cent in 1947 to 11 per cent in 2022. To do this, the Bangalore-headquartered organisation adopts a collaborative approach, working with governments, private citizens and social entrepreneurs to develop economic solutions tailored to specific needs.

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Integral to the organisation’s mission are its incubator and accelerator programmes, which nurture early-stage social ventures by providing not just grants but also hands-on mentorship with the world’s best problem solvers. These support systems emphasise speed, scale and innovation—leading to the success of the education-focused non-profit Peepul, for one example. With The/Nudge’s guidance, the social enterprise scaled to a billion-dollar programme that now impacts the learning outcomes of 10 million students in government school systems in India.

Founder and CEO Atul Satija is bullish about The/Nudge’s accelerated growth over the next five years, sharing that the organisation aims to invest US$100 million—ten times more than its current spend—for 800 social ventures. He foresees an expansion into financial inclusion, agriculture and climate impact, as well as more integration with technology to create the large-scale change the world needs.

In this in-depth conversation with Tatler, Satija delves into how The/Nudge Institute challenges negative stereotypes about social enterprises whilst helping over 100 non-profit ventures succeed in their mission of fostering self-sufficient livelihoods.

Haegue Yang doesn’t believe in easy. “I once heard [the saying] ‘There is a trap in an easy thing’,” the artist says with a wry smile. “Once I encounter something, whether it’s a method or a material, I have to make it as demanding as possible. It’s my job as a sculptor.” For Yang, “the material dictates; I’m simply following the material’s potential.”

A continuous combination of rattling and chiming persists in the background as the artist speaks to Tatler by video call from her Seoul studio. She has a second studio in Berlin and splits her time between the German and South Korean capitals. “I hope you can hear me— it’s the bells,” she says of the noise caused by metallic bells that feature prominently in Yang’s works. They are a particularly common feature of her Sonic Sculpture series; one collection in the series involves thick cords covered in the metal items suspended from ceilings, representing a divine connection; a sonic component is regularly activated to create sounds that reverberate throughout the space in which they’re exhibited.

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“Attaching the bells is very meticulous work,” the artist says. “The process really makes you aware of the meaning of labour.” When it came to challenging techniques, she found weaving straw exhausting, but macramé the most labour-intensive of all. “Just the weaving alone can take over 300 hours sometimes [for one sculpture], and it’s all done by hand. It’s nothing, just knotting, but it’s tedious as hell.”

The Korean artist’s own voice and manner of speaking are in stark contrast to the high-pitched trilling of the bells. Soft but resolute, slow and measured, her voice has an airy, ethereal tonality, one that is calm, mysterious and pensive all at the same time—much like the aura her work emanates.

Athletes and supporters from around the world flocked to Paris this year to witness the much-anticipated Summer Olympics. Among them was Carlos Yulo, an artistic gymnast who has been honing his craft for 17 years; at the Olympics, his many years of preparation paid off, resulting in two gold medals, one for floor exercise and one for vault. 

Before Yulo’s astounding wins at the Paris Olympics, he had won several other competitions—ten wins at the Asian championships, six at the World championships and nine at the Southeast Asian Games. These are more than just achievements. Each win and loss he’s experienced so far is proof of the great and dedicated athlete that he is.