Dramas from Studio KUMKUBKARNDEE CO.,LTD.

Even though "Det" Jaidet is the son of a rich, high status politician, his passion for traditional farming has made his father reject him. He loves his buffalos like his friends and uses every means to protect them. "Nut" Soranut is an engineer for the tractor company Cabaty. Her boyfriend Wat is the son of the owner. He is a playboy but outwardly displays faithfulness for Nut because he wants her benefit if her father rises up in the marketing department. She thinks the use of buffalos is impractical. Nut is the modern-educated city girl.

“She’s crazy about Korea, but I’m the one left hurting —

she won’t give a chance to the Thai guy nearby,

while that outsider just comes to trick her out of her money.

Please listen to the lament of Thai men,

change your heart, and turn back to look at the Thai man close to you.”

That is the song “Siang Khruan Khong Noom Thai” (“The Lament of a Thai Young Man”), now being broadcast on the Luk Thung Siam radio station, 97.97 MHz, during the “White Elephant Song” segment. But due to a technical mistake, the station has no idea who submitted the song. Mr. Sornchai, the DJ and owner of the station, urgently announces that he must find the song’s true owner.

This brings Dokrak, a temple boy from Suphan Buri, who dreams of becoming a songwriter. He wrote and composed the song together with the elderly brass band members at the temple, with full support from the abbot. Dokrak asks the abbot for permission to travel to Bangkok to identify himself as the owner of The Lament of a Thai Young Man at Luk Thung Siam radio. Perhaps his dream is about to come true at last. But as soon as he arrives in Bangkok, the big city welcomes him by having his bag snatched. Dokrak runs after the thief, desperate to get it back, because inside is something more important than his life — the handwritten lyrics he and the temple brass band uncles created together, the only proof that he is the true owner of the song. Not only does he fail to get the bag back, he is also beaten badly.

Still, heaven seems to show him mercy. Dokrak meets an older woman who says she rents out rooms cheaply. He gives her the few hundred baht he has left after searching every pocket. Thankfully, the kind woman says that is enough for now, and he can pay the rest later once he finds work. Dokrak, still shaken by the cruelty of the city, is deeply touched. At least, he thinks, there are still good people in Bangkok.

But then he is startled by loud shouting from Khamla, a young woman who works in a canned-fruit factory, because she thinks Dokrak has come to steal her virtue. Her yelling brings all the tenants out:

• Thanong, a security guard who dreams of wearing an official uniform, but lacks the education to achieve it.
• Rit, a southern young man who sells Isan sausage so he can earn enough money to reclaim his rubber plantation.
• Khoi, an Isan taxi driver devoted to true love, trying to save enough money to marry the woman waiting for him back home.
• Rin, a traditional massage therapist from Chiang Mai who came to Bangkok to support the family back home.
• Ong, a young man from Korat who dreams of becoming like Tony Jaa, but ends up delivering pizza just to survive.
• And finally the feared owner of the boarding house, Jae Wan, a middle-aged woman from Sukhothai whom all the tenants secretly call “Jae Khem” (“Stingy Jae”).

Dokrak insists to Jae Wan that he already paid rent in advance to the “kind auntie” he met the night before, and everyone immediately realizes he is just the latest victim of a scam. Thanong tells him to get out, but Dokrak begs Jae Wan for mercy, promising that once he finds work, he will pay the rent right away. Khoi, sympathizing with a fellow provincial migrant, helps plead for him. In the end Jae Wan agrees, since the room is still empty, but on one condition: Dokrak has one month. If he cannot pay the rent by then, he must return to the countryside.

Dokrak wanders the city searching for the man who stole his bag until he is exhausted. He begins to despair at the wickedness of the capital. If only he had listened to the abbot and the brass band uncles who warned him, he would not have been hurt by this “heaven” everyone talks about. Just as he is about to lose all hope, he meets Dararai, nicknamed Dao, a girl who seems like an angel sent from heaven, instantly refreshing his heart. But in that dreamlike moment, chaos suddenly erupts. When Dokrak comes to his senses, all he sees is a wallet lying on the ground. He opens it and realizes it belongs to Dao.

Dokrak follows her to return the wallet and arrives at her home, where he learns that Dao is the daughter of Uncle Pong, owner of a restaurant. Also there are Srisamorn, Uncle Pong’s sister-in-law and the head cook, and P’Mot, a jack-of-all-trades employee who does everything from shopping for supplies to entertaining customers. Dokrak’s first meeting with them goes badly because of a misunderstanding, and Uncle Pong ends up hating him on sight, forbidding him ever to set foot there again. Dokrak returns to the boarding house heartbroken. His friends feel sorry for him and come up with a plan to help him get back into the restaurant. This time the plan works. Dokrak manages to come and go from Uncle Pong’s restaurant every day, and even gets closer to Dao. But in return, he has to do every task Uncle Pong orders as repayment for the damage caused by the plan.

Even though Dokrak is being punished, he keeps smiling to himself so much that everyone at the boarding house starts wondering if he has gone crazy. When Khoi learns that Dokrak secretly likes Dao, he tells him to give up before he gets hurt even more. The names say it all, he says — Dokrak is on the ground, while Dao is up in the sky. And when Dokrak thinks of Duke, the young man Uncle Pong says is his future son-in-law, Dokrak’s blooming smile immediately fades. Khoi tells him that all of them are strangers in this city. The only reason they came to Bangkok was in search of a better life, and the only things that keep them here are hope and music.

Only then does Dokrak understand why every evening the tenants gather in the garden to wait and listen to the songs they have submitted to Luk Thung Siam radio, hoping one day their own work will be played on the air, just like his. But then Dokrak is stunned when he hears Mr. Sornchai, the station DJ, joyfully announce that someone has already come forward claiming to be the owner of The Lament of a Thai Young Man.

What will Dokrak do now that the song he wrote is being claimed by someone else? And will his nearly impossible love with Dao ever come true? Find out in the drama Mon Rak Mahanakhon, airing every Saturday at 1:00 PM on Channel 7.