How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies, explained

Lots of people outside Thailand went to see this film on a friend’s recommendation, and came out of the cinema wanting to phone their grandmother. If you have a Thai or Thai-Chinese family, there’s a good chance it got you too.

Here is what the film is, why it travelled so far, and why it lands so hard for grandchildren who grew up in two places. No spoilers past the first twenty minutes.

What is How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies about?

M is a college dropout who wants to be a game streamer. When his grandmother, Amah Mengju, falls ill, the family learns she has late-stage cancer and about a year to live, and decides not to tell her. M volunteers to move in and look after her. Not entirely out of love: he’s hoping to inherit. She lives in Talat Phlu, an old Thai-Chinese neighbourhood in Bangkok.

From there it’s a film about care, money, fairness between siblings, and the small daily things a grandmother does that nobody notices until they have to do them. In Thai the film is called Lahn Mah, literally “grandma’s grandchild”.

Who made it, and who is in it?

• Director: Pat Boonnitipat, in his feature debut. He co-wrote it with Thodsapon Thiptinnakorn.
• Studio: produced by Jor Kwang Films and distributed by GDH 559, the Bangkok studio behind Bad Genius, which began operating in 2016.
• Amah Mengju: Usha Seamkhum, in her first film role.
• M: Putthipong “Billkin” Assaratanakul, a singer and actor, also in his feature-film debut.
• The family: Sanya Kunakorn, Sarinrat Thomas and Pongsatorn Jongwilas play Amah’s three children, and Tontawan Tantivejakul plays M’s cousin Mui.

Why did it become such a big hit abroad?

The numbers, as reported on Wikipedia (read 14 October 2026):

And at the Oscars, it became the first Thai entry ever to make the 15-film shortlist for Best International Feature. It wasn’t nominated, but for Thai cinema the shortlist was news on its own.

Why did it travel? The film never explains its world to outsiders, and it doesn’t need to. Almost every culture has a grandmother who feeds everyone, a family that argues about money in whispers, and a house full of things nobody wants to throw away.

Why does it hit Thai-Chinese and luk khrueng families so hard?

Because so much of it is specific, and so much of it is yours.

• The Thai-Chinese household. The family speaks Thai and Teochew, visits the graves at Qingming and runs on the same quiet rules as many Thai-Chinese homes. If that’s your family, our guide to Thai-Chinese families and the one on Chinese New Year in Thai-Chinese families will feel familiar.
• The grandchild who isn’t quite fluent. M understands more than he says. Many of us know that feeling exactly: following the conversation at the table, missing the jokes in the language Amah uses with her own children.
• Care as love. Much of the love in the film is shown, not said: cooking, waiting, showing up. That’s how a lot of Thai and Thai-Chinese families say it.
• Time. Grandchildren abroad often count the visits left without saying so. The film says it for us.

If it brought up a lot, that’s normal. You don’t have to do anything with it except, maybe, call. And if your grandmother is no longer here, it may land differently. Take it slowly, and remember her.

How do you watch it with your family?

Watch it with a parent if you can, and keep the tissues close. Afterwards, ask them about their own grandmother: what she cooked, where she came from, which language she spoke at home. You might hear stories nobody has told you before.

Streaming rights differ by country and change over time, so check what’s available where you live under both the English title and Lahn Mah (checked 14 October 2026). We don’t link unofficial uploads.

What can you say to your own Yai?

You don’t need a speech. On the next video call with Yai, a small, kind sign-off for the end of the call:

ยายดูแลสุขภาพด้วยนะ

yaai duu lae suk-kha-phaap duai na

ยายดูแลสุขภาพด้วยนะครับ

yaai duu lae suk-kha-phaap duai na khrap

ยายดูแลสุขภาพด้วยนะคะ

yaai duu lae suk-kha-phaap duai na kha

Who is speaking?

ครับ said by a manค่ะ said by a woman

Draft: waiting for a native speaker’s review.

Practise replying to this in Reply Thai, coming soon to iPhone.

Reply Thai’s Video call with Yai moment is built for exactly this: the Sunday call, from hello to “love you”, with the replies you need when she asks if you’ve eaten. For more films to share with your family, see our Thai movie canon.

Reply Thai for iPhoneComing soon

Thai words on this page are a draft until a native speaker has reviewed them.