Prueksa Amaruji’s Thai comedy film “The Lost Lotteries” follows the story of Tay (played by Wongravee Nateetorn), a young boy whose sole aim in life is to become rich. He feels that his life is a game of chess. Either you checkmate the difficulties, or life will defeat you in the game. But will he accept his defeat so simply, or will he stay in the game to confront all of life’s challenges and become a rich person? So let us join Tay on his quest to see whether he can make his wishes come true.
Spoilers Ahead
‘The Lost Lotteries’ Plot Synopsis: What Happens In The Film?
Tay is a young man who passionately wants to make a lot of money in life. He lived with his mother, Toi, who had struggled to raise her son. While she was pregnant, Tay’s father left her alone and ran away with another woman. She tried to commit suicide by consuming an acidic and an alkaline liquid together, but they balanced each other out, and Toi’s kid, Tay, was born a healthy child. Since Tay was born, Toi changed her perspective on life and tried to become a good mother and started selling lottery tickets to earn her bread and butter. One of those lottery tickets Tay used to keep to himself in the hope of winning a jackpot one day. However, Tay’s luck was not as favorable as he thought it would be. His source of income was at stake when Toi fell inside a manhole and broke her hip bone. She could no longer walk around the streets and sell lottery tickets. So, she started sewing but had to take a loan from a moneylender, Mr. Chye, to serve her family. When she was unable to repay the loan on time, some goons of Chye came to her place to threaten her. Tay fought but failed to stop them, and after a scuffle, Mee (one of the goons) snatched his lottery tray. Tay couldn’t tell his mom about this, but ironically, Toi informed him that they had won the jackpot. Tay was ecstatic as he kept the ticket for himself, but he was heartbroken knowing that his lottery tray was gone. Tay had to explain to his mother what had truly happened regarding the tickets. Toi was quite disappointed, but she was also worried that the other four jackpot winners would visit them to collect their prizes. The buyers had already arrived at her house when Toi and Tay started to sneak out of their home to get away from them. The four other winners were Wen, Khung, Zoe, and Beat, whom they knew very well. They were all in a crisis in their lives; some of them wanted to be successful in life, and some wanted to help their family. Like, Wen wanted to be an actor who didn’t have a great acting career, and Khung wanted to be a boxer; instead, he was a salesman. Zoe dreamt of her perfect figure, and Beat wanted to treat her father, who had gone into a coma since a rich businessman, Mr. Great, had run his car over their locksmith shop and almost killed him. They all understood Toi’s situation, but none of them wanted to miss out on the lottery. In fact, Tay and his mother’s dream of building a new house would not come true if they lost the lottery. So, Tay made an absurd plan to get back their money. Tay revealed to the others his scheme to break into Mr. Chye’s workshop and steal the lottery tray. According to Tay’s plan, Wen met Chye as a wealthy man and P.C. boss, with Zoe as his secretary. According to Chye, Wen’s boxer had to defeat his famous fighter, Iron Man, in a tournament. Wen called Khung his fighter, who looked so much like a famous boxer named Somjit Jongjohor. Chye mistook Khung for a genuine Somjit Jongjohor and thus got nervous about the tournament. So, Wen, as P.C. boss, gave Chye one million Bahts in advance to make him believe that he was really a wealthy man. Except for a thousand bahts, the rest of the money was fake, which Mee couldn’t even understand as Chye told him not to count. Meanwhile, Tay and Beat sneaked into the factory wearing the workers’ uniforms. Zoe, on the other hand, seduced Mee to grab his attention, so she could take the key to the factory. But they messed up when Mee found that Tay had entered their room. Tay beat Mee unconscious and ran with the key. The film furthermore explores if Tay and his friends could really get back the tickets or if they lost their lottery to learn the value of life.
Did Tay Get Back The Lottery Tickets? What Was The Lesson He Had Learnt?
They eventually recovered their lost lottery tray, but Chye’s guy, Sek, stopped them. Chye had previously discovered that Wen’s fighter was not Somjit Jongjohor but his doppelganger, Khung. He saw a live video of Somjit Jongjohor and knew he was correct. When Chye questioned Wen about it, Khung and Wen fled to save their backs. They all gathered in Chye’s factory, where Tay and Beat were. Sek intimidated them, forcing Tay to return the lottery tray, but he had another scheme in mind. As a backup plan, Tay had planned to set fire to the factory. So, when Sek stole their lottery tray and attempted to kill them, Zoe set fire to their factory of fireworks. Tay and the others took Chye’s truck and fled the area. However, Tay had already hidden the tickets before giving Chye the tray, so they were going to celebrate their win on their way back when Sek arrived and captured Toi, perhaps with the help of Mee. Sek told them that if Tay did not return the ticket, he would murder his mother. Finally, when Tay, Sek, and the others got involved in a fight, Toi was shot in the stomach by Sek’s gun. Sek pulled his gun to murder them one by one but was shot dead from behind by another bunch of soccer gambling gangs.
The gang of goons was the moneylenders. Tay borrowed 1,000 baht from them, which Wen had given to Chye prior to the fight. So, when the soccer gambling guys killed Sek to save Tay and his mother, they demanded the lottery ticket in exchange and snatched it. The lottery ticket was all that Tay and his group had fought for, but in the end, the lottery tickets were lost again. But this time, they couldn’t bring it back as the soccer gambling goons had saved his mother’s life as well as his and his friends. Therefore, Tay didn’t regret losing the money because he learned that the life of his loved ones was more valuable than any kind of wealth. He was just concerned about his mother’s rehabilitation. Also, Toi was no longer interested in the lottery because she was a proud mother who felt complete in her life after raising a kid like Tay. Toi eventually recovered. Neither Tay nor anyone in his group got that ticket or a million baht, but they were happy because nothing was worth more than the life of loved ones. Tay didn’t want to make plans anymore to get the tickets back from the gambler, as they had ultimately saved his mother, for which they deserved that money.
‘The Lost Lotteries’ Ending Explained: Did Tay And Others Become Rich? Did Beat Take Her Revenge?
Tay and the others were eventually rewarded for their sincerity. They discovered that the truck they used to flee Chye’s factory carried a fighter rooster owned by Chye with a market value of eight million baht. They sold the rooster and divided the money among themselves. But this time, everyone used the money wisely. Wen became a well-known actor who finally got his big break, while Khung established a boxing school. In contrast, Zoe gave up her dreams of having a boob job and invested her money in her brother’s admission to a school. No matter how wealthy they got, Tay and Toi didn’t forget their roots and remained grounded, so they started their lottery business in Nong Khai. But Beat still couldn’t take revenge on Mr. Great. She solely wanted to hire a lawyer with the money so she could defeat Great and make him confess his crime, but still, she couldn’t win the case. Obviously, Mr. Great was a prestigious man with more money than Beat could have, so it was impossible for Beat to beat him. However, she didn’t hold any grudges, as she knew this was the reality, and she had to accept it. Beat was deeply wounded by the death of her father as well, but she didn’t give up hope. She started running her father’s shop, but Tay suddenly came up to her with another plan. He came up with his ridiculous and improbable plan to frame Mr. Great once more to get the punishment he truly deserved. Tay and the other partners held their disguises while approaching Great’s workplace. Although the movie left us with a cliffhanger and many unanswered questions about what might have happened to Great, it is safe to infer that Great would be in serious trouble given that Tay and his friends now had enough cash to carefully plot their strategy. To ensure that Great receives justice for the murder of Beat’s father, they can force him to confess to his crime.
Though we don’t know for sure whether “The Lost Lotteries” will have a sequel, we can only hope that the creators will continue this franchise. If a sequel is produced, we might see Tay punish Great using his cunning plans, or we might see another story in which Tay and his team are going to punish the bad and dishonest rich individuals in society.
“The Lost Lotteries” is a 2022 action-comedy film directed by Prueksa Amaruji.