Everyone is waiting for their break
A young struggling actor gets a lucky break after delivering flowers on set and falls for the leading actress and becomes a target for jealousy, all thanks to fame.
Get a Life, alright follows the life of an aspiring actor, Nick Singh (played by Satish Kala), who juggles working two part-time jobs; his father’s Indian restaurant, Ballu’s Bollyfood and Joe’s Florist.
Nick receives an order to deliver flowers to the set of a popular music video show, Get a Life, alright, where he meets Tessa Wise (Abril Tolnay). Tessa’s best friend, Sarah Chen (Aileen Huynh), notices their instant attraction for each other and arranges a dinner for them all at Ballu’s Bollyfood. When they arrive Nick’s brother, Adarsh (Dilshan Rain), contacts the paparazzi, Patrick Pappas (Danny Barton), for free publicity. As soon as Patrick arrives, Tessa and Sarah leave. Tessa is worried that Nick is responsible for tipping off the media. He later reassures her that he wasn’t and invites her out on a date.
Tessa and Sarah then put in a good word for Nick to audition for a guest role, which he lands. He suddenly becomes popular with the public, making his co-star Tom Reeves (Paul Hughes) insanely jealous as well as his brother, Adarsh. Will jealousy ruin Nick’s relationship and his new career? Do female friendships outlast relationships? A film about love, family and friendships that stand the test of time.
Themes
What may appear to be just as another romantic comedy, Get a Life, Alright has a strong theme about the importance of female friendships which is an integral part of this film and mental health explored in a nuanced way. It uncovers how negativity can often replay, over and over again in people’s minds, giving light on the sensitivity of what we say and do can affect others. You’ll laugh and you’ll cry as this film uncovers the value of family and friendships, as the characters are fun, likeable and very relatable.
Get a Life, Alright had its theatrical release through Dendy & Wallis cinemas.
Licensed to Channel Nine (Australia’s leading television station).
Sarah Kala (Nick Singh) & Dilshan Rain (Adarsh Singh)
Sukhraj Deepak (Ballu Singh) & Dilshan Rain (Adarsh Singh)
Aileen Huynh (Sarah Chen) & Abril Tolnay (Tessa Wise)
Meet the Cast
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Abril Tolnay (Tessa Wise)
Abril Tolnay who plays Tessa Wise.
Born in Argentina into a family of creatives, it was only natural for Abril to explore and pursue a path in the performing arts. Since settling in Sydney, Australia at the age of four, she has been involved in various musical and theatre productions including Annie, The Wiz, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Fluent in Spanish and an accomplished singer and dancer, Abril landed the lead role as Gabriella Montez in High School Musical: On Stage in 2009.
Her acting abilities were quickly recognised by Sydney based acting school The Actor’s Pulse, after being offered a Scholarship to study the Meisner technique under their New York style teen classes. Abril has since gone on to receive her Diploma of Screen Acting at the end of 2018, after having trained full-time under the guidance of respected industry creatives at the leading Film and Television School, Screenwise.
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Aileen Huynh (Sarah Chen)
Let's meet, Aileen Huynh who plays Sarah Chen!
Following graduating from WAAPA, Aileen made her professional debut in the critically acclaimed SBS mini-series Better Man opposite Bryan Brown and David Wenham. Since then her screen credits have included Neighbours, Black Comedy 3, The Commons and as mad scientist Everick in series 1&2 of Cleverman. As a content creator she has worked independently on short comedy skit videos and was nominated in 2014 for an Australian Online Video Award. Shortly after she worked with comedy legends Tim Ferguson and Marc Gracie on their feature film ‘Spin Out’ (Sony). Her current content work can be seen on YouTube under her alter ego Dr Mad Phan.
You will also find Aileen regularly on Australian theatre stages. She was recently in David Williamson’s world premiere of The Big Time at Ensemble Theatre, playing the ambitious and feisty Kendra in Branden Jacob-Jenkins’ Pulitzer nominated Gloria for The Melbourne Theatre Company and Julian Larnach’s Flight Paths for The National Theatre of Parramatta. She has done national tours of Critical Stages’, 4000 Miles and Performing Lines’ Hello Goodbye & Happy Birthday, which received a Helpmann nomination.
In 2019 she made her directorial debut with Sam Wang’s comedy stage show ‘Skyduck: A Chinese Spy Comedy’ with Belvoir, 25a. It received two honourable mentions for “Best of 2019 on stage in Sydney” in Timeout and Audrey Journal.
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Amelia Conway
Amelia Conway plays Costume Designer, Nancy Niven in Get A Life, Alright!
Amelia Conway is an experienced actress, model and presenter in beautiful Sydney, Australia. She has trained at multiple schools locally and internationally, including NIDA, TAFTA, Sydney Actors Collective, The Scene on Screen, Marcus Graham and Margie Haber LA, ACE Studios LA.
Modelling has been a staple in Amelia's career for the past 15 years, she has been in several magazine covers such as LITA Magazine -swimsuit edition, SYD Photos and StarCentral magazine.
Amelia has also appeared and/or presented in many TVCs (KFC, ActewAGL, Dream Sheets) and online advertisements (The Fable, Content Snare, AI Films, Havianas).
Notable credits include her lead role in "Bad Influence" as Laura and support in quirky indie feature "Friends & Strangers" set for release 2021. Amelia is currently working on 'The Choice' feature, and has 2 more features lined up for filming in 2021, 'Get A Life, Alright' and ' Cinphoney'. Amelia's career is just starting to light up and there is a bright future ahead.
Amelia is also a keen writer and is currently directing her own comedy web-series 'Roller Coaster Testers' set for release late 2021
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Balu
Suk Raj Deepak plays the loveable father, Ballu Singh in Get a Life, Alright.
His past work includes the lead role in Sydney Film Festival's Here out West and supporting roles in Superman Returns, Happy Feet & All Saints.
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Dilroop Khangura
Dilroop Khangura, plays Bollywood actress, Aanya Rai in GET A LIFE, ALRIGHT!
Dilroop is a recent graduate of NIDA’s Diploma of Stage and Screen Performance. Her screen credits include Channel Nine’s upcoming drama series “Amazing Grace,” directed by Shawn Seet and Discovery Channel’s drama series “Deadly Women.” Dilroop has appeared in music videos for artists such as “Urthboy” and “Cosmos Midnight.” Coming from an Indian background, she is fluent in both Hindi and Punjabi and is passionate about telling South Asian stories.
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Dilshan Rain
Dilshan Rain, plays Adarsh Singh in GET A LIFE, ALRIGHT!
Dilshan is a Sydney based actor of Film and T.V. He's best known for his work on the Dilshan Rain is a Sydney based actor of Film and T.V. He's best known for his work on the Australian comedies "Rake", Fat Pizza" and "Swift and Shift". He is also the star, writer and producer of the multi award winning horror short "Vincent".
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Belinda Delaney (Shauna Davidson)
Belinda began acting at age 6 (as a Munchkin!). Initially training with Newcastle Young People's Theatre, she went on to study the Musical Theatre Course at WAAPA. On stage, she's performed everything from large-scale opera to Shakespeare, TIE and pantomime. She has worked consistently in film, television, corporate work, presenting and voice overs, for many years. You'll frequently see her on a variety of commercials. Winner of the 2020 Broadway World Best Actress in a Musical award, 2021 sees her touring in "The lost voice of Anne Bronte". A qualified drama teacher, Belinda teaches for NIDA Open, writes and directs.
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Danny Barton (Patrick Pappa )
Danny Barton plays notorious paparazzi, Patrick Pappas in Get A Life, Alright!
Born in Brisbane, Danny has been active and performing for as long as he can remember.
Through primary and high school Danny was active in drama classes, choirs and dance eisteddfods as well as competing in drama festivals where he won awards for best supporting and best comedy actor.
Moving to Sydney in 2011 after 8 years of living in the UK, he has dedicated himself to his passion and in the last 3 and a half years focussed heavily on screen performance with 13 short films with “Get a life alright” being his debut into feature films.
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Yannick Lawry (Ross Taylor)
Yannick plays Ross Taylor in Get A Life, Alright!
After completing studies in Law, Yannick trained as an actor at ArtsEd, London picking up a Masters in Acting.
His film credits include 2018 feature, Trust, playing 'Nick' and 2021 POC Sherbroke Down. Award-winning shorts, Love Dad and The Malicious. TV credits include Limitless for Disney+, Australia: The Story Of Us for Channel 7, and The Checkout for ABC. Yannick's recent theatre credits include a 3-month national tour as Screwtape in The Screwtape Letters, Dr Rice in Molly Sweeney (through his own theatre company Clock and Spiel Productions) and Woland in The Master and Margarita at London's Menier Chocolate Factory. As a voiceover, he's narrated documentaries for Nat Geo and the BBC and you may well have heard him on campaigns for Kelloggs, Hotels Combined and car ads a-plenty!
Pre- Screening Reviews
“A great story with a lot of heart! This is my favourite movie of Joy’s so far!” 4 out of 5 – Andy Trieu (SBS)
“This is a cute and easy to watch rom-com, with the added important elements of representation, diversity and visibility. In a time when the world is getting sick and tired of white beach goers and surfies, “Get a Life, Alright”, ticks all the boxes of being well balanced on the social issue side with a love of emotion and lovey dovey meet cute moments.
The premise of the film is also easy to understand, it’s simple and adds to the depth of the film. The lead is an Indian Australian man – Nick Singh, whose ultimate goal is to be a successful actor, and works odd jobs at a florist and his father’s restaurants to make ends meet. He later falls in love with the lead Tessa Wise, of a TV series he passed an audition for in a guest role, and it’s entertaining to see the character development, but also the romance which is simple, cute and pure.
The film was well written and the scenes flowed fluidly without any plot holes. Back to the issues of representation, diversity and visibility for the on screen – we are able to witness a darker skinned South Asian man (which we rarely see in Australia film and TV) trying to pursue a career which is traditionally not seen as lucrative in Asian families. THIS is probably one of the most significant milestones for the film.
Great film, easy romance and meet cute situations and enjoyable to watch!”
4.5 out of 5 – Erin Chew, Freelance Writer (HuffPost / AsAmNews / FlixAsia and Being Asian Australian)
Filmmaker Joy Hopwood strives to produce films for all audiences to enjoy. Funny, delightful, feel-good films with relatable messages sprinkled throughout. What she has achieved on a shoestring budget from her latest offering Get a Life, Alright! (aptly described as the ‘first diverse romantic drama (musical) led by women’), is absolutely phenomenal. The passion and love that all the cast share for this project is reflected on screen. Audiences should undeniably have just as much fun watching this film as the cast and crew had making it! 4 stars for producing a film that will benefit the up-and-coming actors who participated in this project, and for taking the chance to produce a relatively small film for audiences who are tired of those ‘same old same old’ over-glossy blockbusters!
4 out of 5 stars -Mark Morellini Alternative Media
“If you’re in the mood for a light-hearted rom-com that is set in Australia but doesn’t star any beaches or blondes, you’re in luck. ‘Get a Life, Alright’ is that rare breed of Australian independent films that is culturally diverse without being dark. And the diversity here isn’t just about having a token non- white character who is the funny or nerdy sidekick to the gorgeous male/female protagonists. Diversity is at the very heart of the story as it centres on Nick Singh, a young Indian-Australian man who works part-time at a florist and at his dad’s restaurants while harbouring aspirations for an acting career. He falls for Tessa Wise, one of the female leads in a hit TV series where he also later lands a guest role. Their love story is marred by classic obstacles like envious siblings and miscommunication, but there is a lot of fun and some fabulous musicals on the way to happily ever after.
When exploring non-white cultures in Australian cinema, it is easy to fall into the trap of going for the easily identifiable stereotypes instead of representing diverse characters as full-fledged individuals. The script-writers of ‘Get a Life…’ negotiate this by including some features associated with India, such as Bollywood and curry, but by also being playful with these inclusions. Nick’s dad’s restaurant, for instance, is called ‘Bolly-food’ and Nick’s stint in India sees him starring in a beer commercial.
Overall it’s a great effort at representation and good humour!”
4 / 5 stars – Sukhmani Khorana, Writer / Author / Academic
“Joy Hopwood has a penchant for making diverse romantic comedies. Unlike Crazy Rich Asians, where the notch is cranked up to full technicolour decadence, Joy’s films are quiet, charming bubblers filled with rather recognisable, relatable (and Australian) characters. However, this is Joy’s most glamor-set film – a musical drama featuring striking Bollywood numbers. Her main leads Nick (Satish Kala) and Tessa (Abril Tolnay) have a lovely chemistry, and to see the diverse cast was a delight. Without giving too much away, this film highlights the importance of female friendships and of course, the power of love in all its forms. Shamini Singhal and Hopwood paired up as a team to write this comedy, and the viewer can see what a lovely working relationship they had through the sheer joy infused in this production.”
5/5 stars – Alice Pung, Writer / Author / Screenwriter / Academic