Star Awards 2023: Das DD makes history with Best Rising Star win

Das DD made Star Awards history on Sunday (Apr 9) night when he took home the trophy for Best Rising Star at this year’s ceremony at Marina Bay Sands for his work as host of online entertainment programme, #JustSwipeLah.

The 33-year-old, whose full name is Dharmadasa D Dharamahsena, is the first Indian to ever be nominated in a performance category and to win at the award show which celebrates the best of local Chinese entertainment.

He was nominated alongside fellow #JustSwipeLah host Jernelle Oh, Jarrell Huang (In Safe Hands), Kiki Lim (When Duty Calls S2) and Joey Pink (Soul Detective).

When accepting the award, Das, who was visibly tearing up, said: “I’m so surprised that I can’t speak Mandarin.”

He thanked the producers of #JustSwipeLah for taking a chance on him hosting a Mandarin show. “Because if I were the producer, I wouldn’t have picked me,” he said. He also thanked his fans for giving him the courage to do the show.

Backstage, Das – who speaks English, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil – told reporters that he’s “just a simple boy who lives in Woodlands and now I’m the first Indian to be nominated for and win a Star Award, so, clearly, anything is possible!”

Before Das’ win, the only other actor of Indian descent to compete in the Star Awards in its 28-year history was Gurmit Singh, who was named one of the Top 10 Most Popular Male Artistes, which is not a performance category voted for by a panel of judges.

Das told 8days.sg that he appreciated the recognition and will continue to work hard “and do what I love every day of my life”. He added that he hopes his win will inspire “all Malays, Indians, everybody from all walks of life, anyone who