FAMILY REUNITES, BOW AND SCRAPE, ALL IN THE MIND

Together again Actor/presenter Kanchai "Noom" Kamnerdploi is breathing easy after his court case against his stepmother and her son ended in a conciliation-brokered settlement.

Noom took the case against them over an unsettled 100 million baht estate left by his father, amulet collector Prakob.

The dispute escalated when Noom and his niece traded accusations in the media.

Noom, the only son of a minor wife, claimed his step-mother had given him nothing from his father's estate. He took exception when niece Ploypailin, for the other side, portrayed him as an ungrateful son with a short memory. Noom said he would sue Ploypailin for defamation, after she criticised him in emails to family and friends.

The mounting row threatened to bring Noom's present and former girlfriends into court to testify on opposing sides.

Noom said he was likely to call his girlfriend, actress May Fuengarom as a witness on his behalf.

Niece Ploypailin, meanwhile, threatened to call Noom's former girlfriend, presenter Kritteera "Khem" Inpornwichit, in her defence. She also promised to counter-sue Noom, for giving false testimony, and making off with statues that were rightfully part of the family estate.

The settlement was agreed at a court-appointed, four-hour conciliation meeting this week, the last before the estate dispute was set to go before the judges.

Under their agreement, stepmother Wilmolrat has agreed to return to Noom title to 26 rai of land in Chumpon, worth 28 million baht. Noom, for his part, has agreed to return Buddha statues and amulets worth 21 million baht.

He will also pay Wilmolrat two million baht for the land, in installments of 50,000 baht a time.

Other assets from the estate will be divided among family, with Wilmolrat overseeing the process as she was before.

Noom had to apologise to his stepmother and the offspring of his father's other wives, while his niece also had to say sorry to Noom.

Outside court, Noom and his stepmother wept. Both sides put their dispute down to a misunderstanding. They seldom talked, as they were too busy. Noom buried his head in Wilmolrat's lap, begging forgiveness. Earlier, he prostrated himself at her feet.

The same day as the settlement, he returned the statues he took from her home.

Feisty niece Ploypailin, meanwhile, said apologising to Noom stuck in her craw. As far as she was concerned, she had done nothing wrong. Still, she did it, and declared she still loved him. Noom's father Prakob, who died intestate five years ago, had four wives, children by two of them.

Prakob had three sons by Wilmolrat, his first wife, whom the heirs appointed administrator of the estate.

He also had a fourth child, Noom, by his third wife, who died in her thirties. Noom, who stayed with his stepmother after his birth mother died, claimed Wilmolrat did not treat him as an equal.

He was forced to sleep in the driver's quarters, and wash his clothes with the servants - claims denied by niece Ploypailin, daughter of Wilmolrat's eldest son.

She said Noom's story sounded like a trashy Thai soap opera. 'Sorry' is simply not enough A bow-and-scrape apology failed to do the trick for Lampang shopkeeper Wirachart "Kota" Densirikhun, 56, who is vowing to sue former actor Somchai "Tao" Kemklat after he assaulted him at a noodle shop in January.

Kota complained to police that Tao beat him up at a roadside eatery as he was tucking into a bowl of noodles and dumplings.

Last week, the Lampang prosecutor sent Tao's case file to court, which will now decide whether to accept it. Tao turned up at the Lampang prosecutor's office and was escorted to the court, which released him without demanding bail. It has called him back again on Sept 1.

The court decided that Tao, who has moved to Bangkok from his old stamping ground in the North to start a new life, posed no flight risk.

Later the same day, Kota and his lawyer filed papers at the court asking to join the prosecutor's action.

Kota is seeking 500,000 baht in damages, and an apology to run for seven days in the major Thai dailies.

Kota revealed that in late April, Tao had attempted to apologise for his drunken behaviour that ended with the assault in the noodle shop.

"Friends invited me to Chiang Rai for a night out. They must have laid plans beforehand, for Tao turned up without warning to make an apology.

"He crawled towards me on his knees, holding a forgiveness tray with flowers. I didn't know what to do, as I wasn't expecting it - nobody warned me that Tao was coming.

"I had no time to compose myself, so said nothing. The case should take its course in court," he said. A real fantasy adventure Deceiving people is no big deal, says actor Sarawut "Aon" Martthong, pleading with Thais to give former singer and supposed Hollywood actor Nathan Oman another chance.

Nathan, a friend of Aon's, claims 20th Century Fox hired him to appear in a three-part adventure fantasy directed by Wolfgang Petersen and starring Bruce Willis and Nina Ricci.

He claims he is being paid 100 million baht for his role, based on his own award-winning life story.

However, digging on the internet, sceptical Thais can find no trace of the film, The Prince of Red Shoe.

The production company, and agents for supposed co-stars Willis and Ricci, say they have never heard of it either.

Aon says journalists should resist the temptation to dig up Nathan's past, as everyone has made mistakes.

He believes Thais would be willing to forgive should Nathan admit his story about "going inter" was all lies.

Aon himself knows what it is like to be judged harshly by society. Last October Aon turned up in an explicit, leaked videoclip that he would rather no one else had seen.

Using his mobile phone's camera, Aon filmed himself in the company of a woman friend. He lost his phone, and the clip came back to haunt him when someone copied it on to a video CD.

The naughty clip sold briskly in Patpong. Copies of the CD also found their way to the media. Catty journalists remarked that the man in the clip was not wearing any protection.

Aon admitted the man in the video was himself. He also laid a complaint with police saying his privacy had been invaded.

Aon said he wished to take sole responsibility for the affair, admitted the leak had hurt relations with his girlfriend, and pleaded with the media not to ask him about it again. In tears, he prostrated himself to ask for society's forgiveness.

Aon says he rarely sees his friend Nathan, but he knows him to be a generous man.

"As long as we do not hurt the ones who love us - our families - then anything can be forgiven," he says.

One report says Aon had made his own inquiries into his friend's claims, which pointed to the same conclusion - that the film, together with the story about Nathan's exotic background and upbringing in the Middle East, are fictional.

Nathan has yet to respond.