By NEIL RAMOS
With soap operas, it’s almost always about eliciting emotional response from a given audience and nothing does it better than employing the usual api-apihan characters.
It is in this manner that “My Special Tatay,” GMA7’s newest teleserye on the Afternoon Prime block, could be classified well, wholly traditional.
Nothing wrong with that, of course; it is, after all, a propos to demand.
“My Special Tatay” has Ken Chan playing the role of Boyet, a man with Mild Autism Spectrum Disorder. His life turns upside down when he finds out that he fathered a child.
Note the network had previously aired a similar series in 2015 called “Little Nanay” featuring Kris Bernal.
In it, Bernal, played the role of a girl with intellectual disability who gets pregnant.
But if “My Special Tatay” director, Lord Alvin “LA” Madridejos, is to be believed, there is marked difference: the severity of the lead character’s conditions.
Severe kasi ‘yung sa character ni Kris noon, while itong kay Ken naman, mild lang,” he explained.
Therein, he said, lay the challenge.
“Unlike other soap operas kung saan puwedeng umiyak lang ‘yung character depende sa eksena, dito hindi ganun, may mga limitations dahil nga sa condition ng character ni Ken,” he said, noting how they would often try different approaches in shooting scenes for the character.
“It’s time-consuming,” he added. “Napakahirap actually, lalo na kay Ken. Pero kailangan eh. Siyempre ayaw naman namin ng basta-basta na lang.”
To make sure they are doing it right, show producers employed a real-life psychiatrist as consultant to ensure proper representation of Boyet.
“Kailangan akma sa condition niya ang maipalabas namin, mahirap na,” Madridejos said.
Indeed.
In any case, Chan is happy to have landed a significant role that could rival his most successful TV foray, “Destiny Rose.”
He said, “Nagpapasalamat po ako sa GMA dahil ipinagkatiwala sa akin ang proyektong ito. Sobra po akong excited dahil nabigyan ako ng pagkakataon na gampanan ang isa na namang napakagandang karakter.”
Chan is pressured to do good in his performance as Boyet.
“Dahil kailangan nating ipaintindi sa viewers kung ano ba talaga ang pinagdaraanan ng mga taong may intellectual disability eh,” he said.
Aside from acting workshops, the talented Kapuso actor together with the production and creative teams of the soap underwent immersion to experience and understand better the condition of people with mild intellectual disability.
“My Special Tatay” starts airing today on GMA Afternoon Prime.
