RK proud to be ‘Rey Valera’
RK Bagatsing has proven his acting prowess in such hit TV series as “Wildflower” and “Be My Lady”. He now plays a lead role on the big screen no less in Saranggola Media’s Summer Metro Manila Filmfest entry, “Kahit Maputi Na ang Buhok Ko (The Music of Rey Valera)”.
“It’s really an honor to play Mr. Rey Valera in his biopic,” he says. “He’s one of our country’s most popular singer-songwriters, with so many hit songs to his credit, so I’m very proud to play him in this movie. I did my very best to make sure hindi naman ako mapahiya in portraying him on the big screen.”
The movie relives the inspirations, the people, situations, communities and the times that inspired Rey Valera to compose some of his most popular and deeply meaningful Original Pilipino Music hits across the decades of his iconic career.
Rey chooses ten of his OPM blockbusters to weave a tapestry on the human condition and his reflections on the stories of what makes the Filipino a Filipino. The characters in the movie are composites of some of the people he encountered in his life.
Rey immerses into the whys and wherefores of how he was able to create such immortral hit songs as “Kahit Maputi na ang Buhok Ko”, “Malayo Pa Ang Umaga”, “Mr. DJ”, “Pangako sa Yo”, “Kung Tayo’y Magkakalayo”, “Maging Sino Ka Man”, “Kung Kailangan Mo Ako”, “Tayong Dalawa”, “Ako si Superman”, and some of the greatest hit songs performed by Rico J. Puno, the superstar performer of OPM from the 1970s and 1980s up to the early 2000s.
Rey reveals and returns to the original intent and circumstances of each of these signature songs in their contextual history or life settings. Some of the songs are often associated with or remembered as theme songs of memorable Filipino movies, but their origins each tell different a story and origin stories surely matter.
RK Bagatsing is lucky that Director Joven Tan has assembled a powerhouse cast of talents to support him, including Christopher de Leon, Gelli de Belen, Rosanna Roces, Aljur Abrenica, Rico Barrera, Josh de Guzman, Lotlot de Leon, Jenine Desiderio, Meg Imperial, Ronnie Lazaro, Gian Magdangal, Carlo Mendoza, Ara Mina, Arlene Muhlach, Pekto Nacua, Eric Nicolas, Dennis Padilla, Epy Quizon, Arman Reyes, Ariel Rivera, Ricky Rivero, Lloyd Samartino, Shira Tweg, Lou Veloso, and Gardo Versoza.
The film is told in segments devoted to Rey’s selected hit songs. Within the film are also tributes to the late Rico J. Puno for whom Rey wrote a lot of songs. There is a separate segment on the song “Ako Si Superman”, which Rey intended to be sung by Rico J. Puno, but the “Total Performer” was unable to record it, as he suggested that Rey would sing it himself. It turned out to be one of Rey’s hits that he himself sung.
“The songs will be played with the subtitles of their lyrics shown on screen,” says RK. “Kaya all the viewers can join in singing the song na parang sing-along. This is the first time this is being done in local films and we’re sure all those who appreciated the songs of Rey Valera through the years will enjoy in singing them inside the moviehouse. So don’t miss ‘Kahit Maputi Na ang Buhok Ko’ when it starts showing in cinemas nationwide on Black Saturday, April 8. We assure you that you will all have a good musical time.”
