Honesty not the best policy

Filmed entirely in Singapore, HBO Asia’s first comedy drama series, Sent, is directed by comedian Alaric Tay (who is also the co-producer) and stars Haresh Tilani (Ministry of Funny), Alan Wong (Tanglin), Adrian Pang (The Blue Mansion) and Carla Dunareanu (The Kitchen Musical).
Sent will be making its debut across Asia on Sept 17, exclusively on HBO (Astro Channel 411/431). The eight-episode half-hour series will premiere with double back-to-back episodes at 9pm with two new episodes premiering on subsequent Sundays at the same time, culminating with two back-to-back episodes on Oct 8.
Sent will also be streaming on HBO On Demand (via Astro GO).
It tells the story of Jay Bunani (played by Haresh Tilani), an unremarkable and meek financial compliance officer whose only way of coping with the stresses of life is to draft searing honest emails to anyone who aggravates him.
This backfires one day when these ‘hot letters’ are accidentally sent out, turning Jay’s world upside down.
During a press event held in Singapore, Haresh, the co-founder of Ministry of Funny (MoF), a YouTube comedy channel in Singapore, explained that he relates to his character Jay.
“It has happened to me, with WhatsApp,” said Haresh referring to sending out messages that’s got him into trouble.
“I also worked in a corporate job for two years before starting the YouTube shows. I think there is a bit of Jay in everyone. There is obviously a lot of my personal life that I put into Jay.”
From a YouTube series to a TV series, Haresh said: “I create YouTube content which is shorter. Sent is eight episodes and each one is 23 minutes long.
“Getting to do something like this is great in terms of format but it also help to get it distributed immediately in 22 or 23 countries because of HBO is pretty cool thing. Also the creative freedom that HBO gave us to develop it can be enticing.”
Jay has an overbearing father who compares him to a sibling, and a mother who smothers him.
“A lot of the family characters in the show are based on my real family. I have an older brother and my parents are traditional. The family in the show is a more extreme and comical version of them,” said Haresh.
He was happy that director Tay gave the cast room to develop their character and sometimes do some improvisation.
Harsh was cast early and the other actresses were developed around his character.
“I didn’t audition. I am grateful that just with the YouTube video it was enough for them to approach me and give me the lead role.”
Haresh said that people will relate to all the emotions of their heroes through. “Hopefully, at the end of it they will learn to like Jay.”
Tay (who is also an actor who starred in The Noose and HBO Asia’s Serangoon Road) is enjoying his first foray in directing a TV comedy series having directed short films in the past.
When asked what drew him to Sent, Tay simply said: “The fact that they (HBO Asia) asked.”
“When the idea first came, I felt that everything in life was changing too quickly. The way we commute, the way we eat, the way we shop, everything is changing
so quickly with technology. I thought getting into a tech mishap is something everybody could relate to and a story I had to tell.”
Casting is naturally important. “I think Haresh was first to come on board and he embodied the tone of the comedy that we wanted to do. He is not over the top and not too under the radar. I thought he could pull off a natural performance. The rest of the cast came after that and Haresh was there to help us out. We needed to see how much chemistry and how much comedy could come out of their relationship as well,” said Tay.