
Thailand is back again with another hit Netflix series titled The Believers last March 27, and the reactions of viewers are coming back positive. It follows the story of three entrepreneurs who are trying to pay off debt by “capitalizing on people's religious convictions.”
One of its main leads, Peach Pachara, held a press conference in Manila last April 4 where he talked about his involvement in the series as Game and how it pokes controversial topics in Thailand, especially religion.
“The whole point is [to deliver] very controversial topics [and one of them is] religion in Thailand; in particular, Buddhism. We actually wanted to talk about how to make religion more transparent.”
In line with the foundation of the story inspired by true-to-life happenings in Thailand, Peach explained that they want to talk about them through The Believers.
“The point of having religion is to enlighten people [and] to make us better human beings, but there's someone who exploits the faith of people, so we want to show [the viewers] how these people [do] it and really corrupt the whole system apart.”
Peach noted that the boldness of the story of The Believers is to make the viewers question how, as a country, they make things better in terms of religion, faith, and corruption.
“With that, now we can start raising the question: 'How do we make things better?' That's the whole point of the whole series. I think it [is] a universal thing to all kinds of religions; that we can raise more questions on how to look at our religion better.”
Despite its sensitivity, Peach felt rather excited to deliver such a story to Thailand. He also looked forward to the reviews and reactions of viewers, especially about the story they tried to convey during the making of the series.
“I [was] excited to really put it out. At first, we anticipated controversial [opinion] because that's the whole point -- if there is no one really finds [The Believers] upsetting, then there's no point in doing it. You're supposed to create that kind of tension.”
The Thai star also reminded viewers that there is nothing wrong with 'having faith' and 'donating money,' but it is important to be aware of where you do it.”
Because The Believers aimed to open conversations about religion and raise awareness about corruption, Peach shared that the team is relieved that they finally put it out rather than nervous about it.
The Believers is also available for streaming on Netflix Philippines and contains 9 episodes with about an hour of running time each.