Hua Jai Sila หัวใจศิลา [Thai - 2019]

[Tofu]

Hua Jai Sila หัวใจศิลา

Also Known As: Man of Vengeance, Heart of Stone

Director: Thanawat Panyarin

Country: Thailand
Network: One31 (part of GMM One)

Episodes: 27 (60 minutes)

 

Starring

Tor Thanapob as Sila/Tor

Fern Nopjira as Mingta/Min

Noon Siraphan as Pinsuda/Mam

Ann Siriam as Sida

Typhoon Kanokchat as Sawit/Ae

Ben Raviyanun as Mingkwan/Kwan

 

Synopsis

Tor is the illegitimate son of Sida’s husband. He starts living with them after his mother is killed by Sida (she runs Tor’s mother over with her car). Tor is abused by Sida, his stepbrother, Sawit, and the next-door neighbor, Mingkwan. The only person that has ever been kind to him is Mingta, Mingkwan’s younger sister. Mingta and Tor developed a fondness for each other. It is partially because they are illegitimate children of their fathers’. When Tor is not given food, Mingta would sneak food to share with him. They both confined in each other and became each other’s best friend.

 

One night, Tor was physically abused by Sida -- she pushed him into a broken vase. He meets up with Mingta who helped dress his wounds as well as brought him food. Sida and Mingta’s stepmother discovered this and Tor is seen getting chased by Sida. He jumps into the river and is presumed dead. Tor goes to find Pinsuda, who he calls Mam. Mam is Tor’s mother’s friend. She is in the adult business, working as an escort (although, in the lakorn they may refer to her as a prostitute). Together, Pinsuda and Tor build a night entertainment business as well as other business such as real estate, resorts, etc.

 

Roughly fifteen years later, under the alias Sila (which means stone), he returns to seek revenge for his mother, himself, as well as anyone who has ever been harmed by Sida, Sawit, and Mingkwan.

 

Plot/Story (Rating 8/10):

If someone has never watched a Thai lakorn, Hua Jai Sila would be the perfect first lakorn. It is full of excitement and the level of craziness is off the chart. 

 

Thai revenge lakorns are some of my personal favorites. There are so many crazy things happening all at once. Everyone is trying to kill each other and there are no repercussions for it. This is exactly why Sila decided to take matters into his own hands. Sida was killing and harming all the people who’s ever negatively crossed path with her and her son, Sawit. She was never arrested and if the police were even remotely looking in her direction, she would find a way to get herself out of it. If the devil existed in human form, it was Sida. She was truly evil down to the core.

 

In many revenge lakorns, you get your typical storyline: you have to hurt someone where it hurts – their money. The “good character” would buy into the evil character’s company’s shares or take their properties away from them. Sila did exactly that, he orchestrated a plan to get majority of Sida’s company’s share and her home from Sawit (who had a gambling problem). For Mingkwan, since she was jobless, Sila played with her emotions. He pretended to court her and when she fell in love with him, he pulled back.

 

In the romance department, I enjoyed the sweet moments between Sila and Mingta (especially towards the end). Sila hid his real identity from Mingta and throughout the lakorn, Mingta is trying to prove that Sila is Tor. She goes around warning everyone that they shouldn’t be near Sila because his intentions are not pure. As a revenge drama, because this was pretty much all she did, it made her character pretty weak and underdeveloped. I really wished that they developed Mingta a little more because there was so much potential there. I do understand that this is a remake, so Mingta in 2019 is still the same Mingta in 2007.

 

Since we’re talking about the romance, there were so many wrist grabs and forced kisses between Sila and Mingta that I lost count halfway through the lakorn. For some reason, wrist grabbing in Thai lakorn is quite common, it happened a bit in My Husband in Law too (the other Thai lakorn I reviewed). It’s probably because male dominance is pretty prevalent in many cultures. My wish for Thai lakorns in the future is that it’ll get away from this and start showing us some stronger female characters! 

 

I loved that they explored the topic of forgiveness. It was a bit controversial because how do you forgive someone that killed your mother, your adopted mother, and basically all your love ones? I think this was what made Mingta frustrating to many viewers because she was always telling Sila that he needed to forgive all the wrongs that Sida did so he can move towards a happier life. I considered Mingta to be a character with many potential so I didn't find this part of her frustrating. In Buddhism (the most common Thai religion), forgiveness does not mean you forget all the truth of your suffering, it means you do not continued to be tied to the hurt and pain of your past. Mingta wasn't wrong in that forgiveness is what Sila needed to start healing. 

 

Lastly, the wedding scenes in the two Thai lakorns that I've watched this year have been so beautiful. I have decided that if I ever get married in the future, I will take my inspiration from Thai lakorns. Haha!

Spoiler

 

Cast/Acting (Rating 9/10):

Tor Thanapob was amazing as Sila – the hatred, the hesitation, every emotion was conveyed so beautifully. He is rising star and I hope to see more from him in the future. It was also nice that he was in many different style of suits throughout the lakorn. I love seeing someone in a tailored suit. Although, it was interesting that at the beginning, he was wearing turtle neck shirts underneath his jackets and then suddenly, he was wearing button up shirts that were half-way button towards the end. Haha! 

Spoiler

 

 

Ann Siriam and Noon Siraphan are veteran actresses so you know you’ll be getting the best. Ann made me hate Sida sooooooo much, at one point, I probably hated her more than Sila. Haha! It really just shows how good she is as an actress. Noon going up against Ann as her rival was equally as good too.

 

Fern Nopjira’s character was quite weak so I think she did fine with what she was given. It really didn’t show Fern’s range as an actress, which was a little disappointing.

 

I still gave the casting a high rating because there were so many strong characters in Hua Jai Sila and the people casted to play them were perfect for those roles.

 

Production Value (Aesthetics/OST/Cinematography) (Rating: 6/10): 

I went back and forth with this rating because with the exception of all the violent scenes, the production quality was fine. The violent scenes, the shooting, the blood stain on the shirts, etc. were all horrible. I never knew blood could be a red-orange color. Haha!

 

Re-Watch Value (Rating 8/10): 

I'm all for over-the-top crazy that you can't explain revenge dramas so I would definitely re-watch Hua Jai Sila again. 

 

A Tofu review is not complete unless there's a video, right? Haha! Here are some of my favorite fanmade videos of Sila and Mingta.

Spoiler

 

 

Also, these two clips really show you the kind of person Sila is. 

Spoiler

 

 

[NiteWalker]

hahaha my mom is crazy and raving about this show with me currently @Tofu

[Tofu]

8 hours ago, NiteWalker said:

hahaha my mom is crazy and raving about this show with me currently @Tofu

Hahaha! How is your mom liking it? The lakorn is pretty crazy but so entertaining too. 

[NiteWalker]

8 hours ago, Tofu said:

Hahaha! How is your mom liking it? The lakorn is pretty crazy but so entertaining too. 

 

oh she love it....she love how the ML play the snobbish sister out....

 

and she love it when the ML break to wall to bring the FL out lols

[Tofu]

52 minutes ago, NiteWalker said:

oh she love it....she love how the ML play the snobbish sister out....

 

and she love it when the ML break to wall to bring the FL out lols

Haha! Your mom is the best! I love that she loves crazy dramas just as much as I do! She will need to recommend me some of her favorite crazy dramas. 

 

Compared to all the crazy characters, the sister wasn't as bad. I thought she was going to try to get revenge in a crazy way but she really didn't do much. She took it all out on Mingta and it's like, "Umm...Sila was the one messing with you though?" Haha! 

 

Tor Thanapob's fame rose so much during Hua Jai Sila that in many of the lakorn's promotion, people would ask him to repeat the title because they loved the way he say it. LOL!

Spoiler

 

 

[NiteWalker]

2 minutes ago, Tofu said:

Haha! Your mom is the best! I love that she loves crazy dramas just as much as I do! She will need to recommend me some of her favorite crazy dramas. 

 

i think she love any drama that is full of craziness....because sometimes i do call her 'crazy mom' :x

 

whenever she called me 'crazy daughter' i say because mom is crazy...

 

she was nut on PS too if u havent watch....she love the cuteness in between and also she love Song YiRen, she said whenever she smile she brighten up the screen alot

[Tofu]

On 1/19/2021 at 7:58 PM, NiteWalker said:

she was nut on PS too if u havent watch....she love the cuteness in between and also she love Song YiRen, she said whenever she smile she brighten up the screen alot

Haha! I am slowly watching that. I'm on either episode 2 or 3, it's been a while since I watched it. My goal is to finish it by summer. I don't think PS is HJS crazy though.  

 

[NiteWalker]

44 minutes ago, Tofu said:

Haha! I am slowly watching that. I'm on either episode 2 or 3, it's been a while since I watched it. My goal is to finish it by summer. I don't think PS is HJS crazy though.  

 

 

of course not .... HJS is makjang at the way she describe it to me lols....sometimes i dont have to watch any drama as i watch my mother is enough....