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R.I.P. Panna Rittikrai


FrankBolte

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apparantly he passed away...it has been posted by Toby Russel on his FB so this cant be no hoax. Damn shame

rip

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One Armed Boxer

Wow, a huge loss to the world of action movies, & his native Thailand wouldn't have an action movie industry without him. The fact that he was still so active in the local industry make this loss even bigger. Condolences to his family.

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ShaOW!linDude

I was truly hoping he would recover, but in the photo of him in the hospital a couple of months back, he did not look good. I'm glad his suffering is over. He brought some great action to film and mentored some great talent to put it there.

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OpiumKungFuCracker

He was in Born to fight, correct? Or are we talking about the director of Ong Bak?

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Man, what a bummer! Can't believe it! Such a loss for a MA community...

He truly was one of the best MA choreographers with a very distinct style...

R.I.P.

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One Armed Boxer
He was in Born to fight, correct? Or are we talking about the director of Ong Bak?

Hey OKFC, Panna Rittikrai was the director, star, and choregorapher of the original 1986 'Born to Fight'.

He went on to form his own stunt team, of which Tony Jaa was a member of in its latter days, and together they made countless ultra low budget action movies during the 80s all the way up to just before 'Ong Bak'.

Rittikrai was the choreographer for 'Ong Bak' & 'Tom Yum Goong' (Prachya Pinkaew directed both), and he was the guy that the studio brought in to help Jaa complete both 'Ong Bak 2 & 3', which led to him getting a co-director credit. He also directed a remake of 'Born to Fight' in 2004 which starred Dan Chupong. The remake was only really a remake in the sense that it recreated some of the insane stunts from the original with a much bigger budget, as well as countless new ones as well.

He starred alongside Chupong in the 2006 movie 'Dynamite Warrior', and stepped into the directors chair again for the 2010 movie 'Bangkok Knockout', of which he also acted in. He was currently working on a new movie which was also to star Chupong called 'Vengeance of an Assassin', which is probably unlikely to be completed now.

The below clip is a compilation of his action scenes from the original 'Born to Fight', and also acts as a fitting tribute to the man himself, he'll be a missed presence for sure.

i58x1Bcfkz8

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I did a small obit on the main page...sad news indeed. He was just in ICU yesterday, according to Patrick Kazu Tang, who trained under Master Panna....sad news :(

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Such a great lost and he was still very young, only 53.

He also choreographer one of my favorite Thai movies "The Legend of Suriyothai". If you want to watch that movie, get either the 3+ hour version or the 5 hours box set.

He will be missed.

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Secret Executioner

RIP. 53 seems so young...

Read the obit on the main site that AlbertV mentionned. Had no clue who he was when this was posted, but reading the obit, I realize he's pretty much the reason why Thailand has become such a big producer of action flicks and why we all know Tony Jaa today. :squigglemouth:

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Oh man..this is truly sad and unexpected. Panna have my deepest respect and admiration for putting Thai action cinema on the world map and mentoring his students to become the next action stars.

I found this message on Tony Jaa's facebook:

No matter the difficulties in relationships, people should be happy at the end of the day. Rest In Peace my old friend. TJ

What difficulties? Did Tony and Panna had a falling out on their relationship? Thats a damn shame if that is the case. Its not good to leave unfinished business on bad terms.

Btw, I believe Panna has another action movie coming out with Dan Chupong in Vengeance of an Assassin and a couple other projects in development.

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R.I.P Panna you are the godfather to thai cinema just done a tribute to the man.sad thing is his best work was not even widely available

AcrhxoBm9ak

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R.I.P. - It's a wander Thai Martial Arts movies that are associated with him never rivalled the popularity of their Hong Kong counterparts. They deserved to.

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danthemandmv

Man,this news has hit me as hard as when we lost Lau Sifu little over a year ago.Indeed,P-Panna was to Thai martial arts/action cinema what Lau Sifu,Tong Gaai,Jackie,Sammo,Donnie Yen&Yuen WoPing are to HK MA films,what Sonny Chiba is to Japanese MA films&what Bruce was to MA films the world over:a true legend&innovator.R.I.P.

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KUNG FU BOB

Panna Rittikrai was Thailand's answer to Jackie Chan, action cinema choreographer extraordinaire, head of the Muay Thai Stunt Team (aka. P.P.N. Stunt Team), and mentor to Tony Jaa and other talented Thai action cinema greats. He left this world much too early when he passed away yesterday at the age of 53. :squigglemouth: Rest in peace Master Panna.

As others have pointed out, it seems to be right on the heels (though it's actually a little over a year later) of losing Lau Sifu, and I'm still reeling from that. And what are the odds that Panna passed away on the same day as Bruce Lee... that we'd lose two martial arts cinema legends on the date July 20th?! :ooh:

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Very sad to hear. May the good lord shine down upon his Family during this crisis. Thank you Master Panna. R.I.P :sad:

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