Maszlee playing the cameo role of jailed PM in ‘Kudeta’. – Photo courtesy of Maszlee Malik Twitter
HAVE we become overly sensitive or perhaps, hypocritically reverent when it comes to local movie content?
There are barely any complaints on social media when it comes to Netflix, Amazon Prime and other similar services.
Is it that our hands are tied given that this is foreign content, or maybe, the usual holier-than-thou critics aren’t paying attention?
Even watching Disney content can be unnerving as subtle shades of LBGT are present. But when it comes to local productions, critics raise a racket, but the point is, they can choose to avoid these movies.
Last week, former education minister Dr Maszlee Malik found himself in an unusual spot.
He had to apologise for using profanity in his cameo role in Kudeta, a local political thriller series on Astro.
Well, as American showman and circus owner Phineas T. Barnum said: all publicity is good publicity.
I’m sure many Malaysians were clueless about the Astro series until recently, but I hope more of us will check out this cutting-edge show, which I had raved about in my article on Dec 22, 2022. (“All-too real TV shows”; online at bit.ly/star_series)
Hot show: ‘Kudeta’, a local political thriller series on Astro, is making waves. – Astro
Maszlee convincingly played the evil, corrupt jailed prime minister Jamal Banna, who is still scheming and making threats against his opponents from his cell, including his successor – the first female PM of Masraya, a fictional country.
Anyone watching Jamal would be forgiven for recalling a former PM of Malaysia. It may be Masraya, but the characters speak Malay and English.
Jamal is understandably in a foul mood and his role obviously involves foul language. Maszlee is an actor here, not an educationist.
Surely we can tell the difference between his acting and political roles.
Do we expect the nasty character he played to be pious, religious, and uttering pleasantries? Honestly, Maszlee would have been sacked in a real-world situation, but he did an excellent job as an actor.
I see no reason why the poor former Member of Parliament for Simpang Renggam had to apologise, admitting the dialogue used was inappropriate and had degraded women.
It looks like Maszlee couldn’t take the heat from social media, which can be nasty and include profanities. How ironic?
“I acknowledge my mistakes for playing the role of an evil prime minister, who uses inappropriate words that have disturbed viewers’ emotional and mental wellbeing,” he said in a Facebook statement.
Well, it looks like Maszlee would now need to look for the role of a clean, honest, pious, hard-working, and dedicated PM. Good luck on finding that unicorn.
Prior to this controversy, there was another uproar over a 35-second movie trailer for Pulau, a Malaysian production.
In that brief time, some Malaysians could raise conjectures on morality, well before even watching the movie in its entirety. Their responses were lengthier than the promo clip!
The producer, Fred Chong, as expected, apologised if any party had been offended by the trailer.
Its promotional materials, such as posters and trailers, had been approved by the National Film Censorship Board (LPF) as well as through the Wajib Tayang list by the National Film Development Board (Finas).
It seems perfectly acceptable if women are in bikinis in a foreign movie, but not in a local production, even if the actors involved are non-Muslims.
But following the hullabaloo, the Pulau trailer raked in a million views on YouTube in nine days – and probably more by now. Talk about Malaysia Boleh!
Well, since I haven’t watched the movie, I wouldn’t dare comment, but the trailer neither offended nor excited me.
The jailed PM role in Kudeta caught my attention, but it was that of Hamid, the hypocritical leader of a religious-based party, that interested me the most.
He was prepared to strike deals for political expediency, proposed a law to make it compulsory for women who wished to work to seek written permission from their husbands, and was even blackmailed in a setup, where he was photographed in a compromising position with a Caucasian-looking woman.
It will be tough for Maszlee to look for another movie role now as dashing Khairy Jamaluddin, who had taken several cameo roles, is also looking for other options and possibilities.
Perhaps KJ could play a politician who has been unfairly sacked from his party and is now hell-bent on seeking revenge in a political thriller, even if he is unbowed, unbent, unbroken.
