Singapore comedian Das DD's journey from PM Lee ‘magic cup’ meme to Star Awards winner

These days, local entertainer Dharmadasa D Dharamahsena, or Das DD as he’s more commonly known, has many reasons to celebrate – and deservedly so. Last Sunday (Apr 9), the 33-year-old Singaporean comedian made history as the first person of Indian descent to be nominated – and win – in a performance-based category at the Star Awards. 

Videos of Das’ acceptance speech, delivered in impeccable Mandarin, quickly became viral as netizens cheered him on – with some learning, for the first time, of his fluency in four languages: English, Tamil, Mandarin and Malay.

CNA Lifestyle recently sat down with the polyglot – who brought his shiny Best Rising Star trophy along – to talk about his career and hopes for the future.

TALKATIVE SINCE YOUNG

Das’ mastery of four languages has helped him open many doors in the entertainment industry. But how did this skill come about?

“I’ve been talkative since I was young,” he shared. “I was an only child, so whenever I had an opportunity to meet someone, I would expend all of my energy on that person.”

And expend, he did. 

Das picked up Tamil by listening to his parents’ conversations. He had to learn Mandarin as a second language in preschool as Tamil was not offered. Bahasa Melayu, on the other hand, was something he learnt from his friends – and further polished during National Service. 

In the future, he even hopes to learn American Sign Language.

ENTERING THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY

With these language skills in tow and an interest in the entertainment industry, he set off on his career path – first appearing as a guest on a radio show. Eventually, he attracted the attention of the now-defunct Night Owl Cinematics (NOC).

“The bosses (at NOC) gave me an opportunity to be in their videos because they knew I could speak Mandarin, thus giving me an online platform for my skills.”

As an NOC talent, he appeared in multiple videos. In fact, Das shares that his most meaningful work thus far is an NOC video where he spoofed the "PM Lee magic cup" meme (and subsequently got a message from PM Lee himself, who said he enjoyed watching it).

The viral video featured Das advising viewers on how to stay safe during the Circuit Breaker period, while switching languages every time he drank from the "magic cup".

“During that time, a lot of people were experiencing difficulties, especially our frontliners. I received a lot of DMs from our healthcare workers who got a laugh at the end of their day (after watching the video).”

Das added: “That’s why I feel comedy is a very meaningful thing. A lot of people think comedy is just for fun and entertainment, and that it’s not noble. But I think what I do as a content creator gives people a vacation from their problems for a few minutes. They would probably need to get back to their problems. But at least, I managed to put a smile on their faces for a little while.”

A RISING STAR

Shortly after becoming an independent artiste, Das made his film debut in the 2022 Chinese New Year comedy Reunion Dinner. “As soon as I starred in that movie, my life changed forever,” he said.

While promoting Reunion Dinner on the online series, #JustSwipeLah, Das attracted the attention of the producers, who then reached out with an offer for him to host the show. 

And the rest is history.

Das admitted that the reality of winning the Best Rising Star award has not really sunk in. “The first thing I did after winning was to eat good food with my friends.” 

Interestingly, Das’ love for food is a topic that pops up several times during the interview. Enjoying good food is one of his favourite activities on his days off – the other being scrolling on TikTok.

“My favourite restaurant is Karu's Indian Banana Leaf Restaurant. I’ve been going there since I was four,” he recommended.

HOPES FOR THE FUTURE 

If there’s one thing Das could retain in the future, it would be the positive environment in the entertainment industry. 

“Most, if not all, of the social media influencers and artists I’ve met from my age group are the kindest people in my life. Whenever I go up to any Mediacorp artist and say 'I’m struggling with this Chinese script, can you tell me how to read this paragraph?', they will help me even if they do not know who I am.”

With a bright road ahead of him, what legacy does Das hope to leave behind? 

“I hope my legacy will be to bridge different ethnic channels,” he said with zero hesitation. Das then went on to share his observations of the current media landscape.

“I feel like (currently), Vasantham is mainly watched by Indians, Suria by Malays, and so on. (I would like a situation where) even if I only understood Mandarin, I would still go and watch the Vasantham show everyone is talking about.”

He added: “Despite not understanding Korean, many Singaporeans support K-dramas. So what is so difficult about watching Singaporean content, which is more relatable?” 

“Of course, there’s nothing wrong with watching K-dramas. But if you can watch them, then I think it’s important to also watch our local content. People might say that local content is not very good. But if you don’t even give it a chance, how would you know?”