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496100
Mon, 06/25/2018 - 08:49
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Delhi Diary: Can Malaysian Stories Compete With Bollywood Commercial Formula?

By Shakir Husain Bernama’s correspondent in New Delhi, Shakir Husain, shares his side of the story from India. NEW DELHI, June 25 (Bernama) -- If a top Bollywood star comes to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysian fans would trail the actor around, chasing selfies, seeking autographs or to just have a good look at him or her. By contrast, how many Malaysian stars would receive even a fraction of that recognition in Malaysia? True, comparisons between India's entertainment industry and Malaysian cinema are odious. India produces more than 1,000 films per year and Bollywood caters to a multinational audience, earning huge money in ticket sales from Kuala Lumpur to London. Bollywood films shown in Malaysia give their producers impressive returns on investment and generate a cultural power that India can be proud of. No one should talk about commercial competition between the world's most prolific film industry and Malaysian filmmakers. In volume terms and its distribution reach, India's entertainment sector is just too large. What, however, must get the attention of Malaysian authorities, filmmakers and audiences, is how local stories can be told better, how they can be sold to a wider audience in the country and Malaysia's neighborhood. How to get the Malaysians, who grow up watching Hindi movies, interested in Malaysian stories? Malaysian director Tunku Mona, who recently attended a film festival in New Delhi where her award-wining movie “Redha” was screened, said it is important to educate the Malaysian audience to appreciate the movies that are not commercial or based on the cliched themes of romance, violence and sex. "Malaysian audiences have to be exposed at a young age (to good cinema), so they can appreciate it. Education plays a big role in this. Our schools will have to be exposed to a lot of theatre and dramas, not glamour," she said. And filmmakers must raise their game by making quality movies to ensure their audiences are guaranteed certain professional standards when to go to cinema. "We have the expertise, knowledge and technology, but we do not have the mindset," Mona said. About the challenges of making movies in Malaysia, she said getting funds is a big issue. Private investors are reluctant to provide finance because of many flopped projects blamed on bad filmmaking. "Unless filmmakers learn that a film has to have certain standards, we won't be able to get the Malaysian audience to watch it. The moment they start trusting (filmmakers), they will start watching Malaysian films," she said. Creating brand names that can produce consistently high-quality movies would generate such trust, Mona said. Good stories told through well-executed productions can potentially have a much wider audience as Malaysian themes would resonate well in places like Indonesia, Brunei and Singapore. Although some Bollywood blockbusters have won huge following overseas, the Indian movie industry is dominated by song-and-dance potboilers and fantasy-driven plots full of exaggerated emotions. Commercially, however, it works in India and most filmmakers need not respond to the accusations of a lack of artistic expression as well as the stories and their narration not adhering to real-life situations in the country. That's where Malaysian filmmakers can be different. Mona said: "I would not do typical Bollywood-type commercial cinema." -- BERNAMA

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