Coming from his win as Best International Film Director for his movie "Malditas in Maldives" at the 2024 Jinseo Arigato International Film Festival, Direk Njel de Mesa threw a big “Change Name Party” to members of the press, industry bigwigs, actors, directors, and musicians. 

I came because I was intrigued by why he was changing his name from Njel (pronounced as Niel) to Nijel, and I felt partly responsible because I would always call him Nijel instead of “Niel.” 

During the party, I got a few minutes with the brilliant director, who explained why he was changing names: "The impetus of changing my name came over this anxiety in calling and spelling my name Njel. People debate over my name because of its spelling and pronunciation. My nickname is Njel, and my real name is Nathaniel, but people keep misspelling it to Niel, especially in checks, and then I have to wait six months for them to change my checks. There is also this anxiety not only in spelling my name but in pronouncing my name as well. People debate over it. Actors and singers like you, Giselle, Cesar Montano, and Kuh Ledesma started calling me Nijel. That name started growing in me. I liked how it sounded, so I changed my name to Nijel. As I mature, calling myself Njel sounds young-ish when, in fact, Nijel is a better-sounding name," says the patriarch of NDM Studios. I agree with him because Nijel sounds powerful, especially since he is a director.

The internationally acclaimed director whose film "Maditas in Maldives" recently won Best Picture at the 2024 Wuwei Taipei International Film Festival also took advantage of this party to introduce to the industry the new actors of NDM studios whom he will launch in Subtext, the Musicale. “Subtext is a play I wrote years ago that won first prize in the Don Carlos Palanca Awards. In the last quarter of 2024, theaters suddenly resurged worldwide. I guess it’s because everyone is so weaned on their cellphones watching TikTok videos that people are now inclined to watch live performances- concerts and theater are back. I developed the subtext again, but this time, I added a twist to make it more appealing, and since I write and make my music, I developed it into a musical. Years ago, we always performed in packed houses for subtext, so I felt that if I were coming back to the theater, it had to be something that’s tried and tested already, but I don’t want to do it the same way because I will be bored so I turned it into a musicale. I plan to stage it in One Acts Theater in Tomas Morato, Quezon City. There are also debates within the company about launching the musical in Japan first before making its rounds in the Philippines," Direk Nijel tells Gossip Girl.  

I was curious about what the play is about, so I probed more, “Subtext to define the word comes from two words: Sub meaning underneath and text meaning word. So Subtext is about what’s underneath a conversation, things we mean but are not saying out loud. You must pick up on these clues or subtexts in a loving relationship. If not, your relationship is doomed to fail.” 

The play is around 90 minutes long and stars Edward Benosa, Gaye Angeles, Cherry Morena, Carl Tiuseco, Christine Avi,  Gian Garcia, and Barbie Rodriguez, whom he introduced at the party as part of the new NDM studios actors.