One-hit Namewee goes for niche market
HE’S A one-hit wonder, with only one box- office hit, Nasi Lemak.
Whether or not he goes for Teh Tarik or Roti Canai for his next movie is debatable, but Malaysian moviemaker Namewee is targeting the niche market.
Namewee, previously pilloried for uploading scandalous videos online, is still trying to fi gure out what he hopes to achieve.
His next movie is more of a sub- genre. Based on a real incident in his hometown, it’s full of confl icts but ends on a bright note. Fred Chong remains his ever-suffering producer.
At the 10th Osaka Asian Film Festival earlier this month, Namewee’s Banglasia was in competition alongside a special screening of Bernard Chauly’s romance How Sweet Love is in Cappadocia.
Getting Banglasia approved by the censors wasn’t easy.
Recalled Chong: “Before releasing the fi lm, we had to submit it to the Home Affairs Ministry for censorship. They asked for 31 cuts. We made the requested edits and they still said no, asking for more cuts. It took us six months to resubmit the fi lm.”
As to why it took so long to get approved, Chong explained: “During the appeal, they thought we were making fun of (crashed Malaysian Airlines fl ight) MH370 because of the a shot at the end on the water, even though we made the fi lm two years ago. They said we were making Malaysia appear unsafe. And because one character had a “Save Malaysia” slogan on his T- shirt, they said we were suggesting that Malaysia needs saving. Also there was a problem with the Bollywood-style scene at the end of the fi lm because there were too many Bangladeshis present in a scene shot in Malaysia. Also, they thought various scenes were making fun of different politicians, or hinting at such things.”
On the dodgy topic of censorship, screenwriter Rafidah Abdullah said: “Even ten years ago, when doing the television series based on Bernard’s fi rst fi lm, Goalposts & Lipsticks, we got in trouble with the police.
Before releasing the film, we had to submit it to the Home Affairs Ministry for censorship. They asked for 31 cuts. We made the requested edits and they still said no, asking for more cuts. It took us six months to resubmit the film.
We had a scene in police cells that contained a black metal band, local college girls, Chinese prostitutes and a goat. Somehow, they had approved it at the script stage, but when we submitted it to the police again for broadcast before its broadcast bells went off. They didn’t like having local college girls in the same cell as Chinese prostitutes. The goat was perhaps okay.”
On the Malaysian audience and their preferences, Rafidah fi gured: “Our audience is very segmented. I don’t think Malay Chinese watch a Malay-language movie, or vice versa. And nobody but the Indians watch the Tamillanguage movies. And why watch a local English-language fi lms when there is big-budget Hollywood fi lms already in cinemas.” On emerging trends in fi lm production, Chauly observed: “There is also a trend emerging for co-production fi lms: productions made between Malaysia and Hong Kong, or Malaysia and China. As a Malaysian producer, I’m working with a Korean director that is shooting a China remake of a Thai fi lm!”
For movie producers, fi nancing is a perennial problem. Basically, they’re caught in a conundrum, as Chong explained: “There is a lot of money coming from the government into the creative industry, but the people actually active in the creative industry are not seeing the money. It’s a different group of fi lmmakers that are benefiting.”
Complained Chauly: “Two projects that benefited from the government’s 30 per cent tax rebate are Marco Polo and Indian Summers. Both of those foreign television productions are now shooting second seasons. Malaysians are not benefiting at this stage.”
Fred Chong, producer of ‘Banglasia’