3 idiots

         

3 Idiots is a 2009 Indian comedy film co-written, edited and directed by Rajkumar Hirani. The story is about three best friends who are studying engineering that bring laughter and tears to the audiences who watch it. You would laugh so hard at those stupid stuffs they did and also cried out in any touching moment they created, in terms of friendship, family and love.

Indian dance

          Dances and music are always some embellishments to any Indian film, although the film is not a musical genre. Dances are beautiful, their task is to embellish the film, making the film special with own culture and style but not missing out the content of the film. If the film is an action genre, the dances are usually fast pace to maintain the tension happened in the film. If the film is sad or romantic, the dances shall be slower, in order to maintain the harmonies.

          The dancing part can be seen when Rancho, Farhan and Raju met and getting closer to each other. They were dancing in the bathroom, since it is a comedy film, the rhythm is fast and lively. The song played is named “Aal izz well” which is homophonically similar to all is well. The song name stands an important role in enhancing the story, giving encouragement to the characters and audiences that everything is going to be okay. Another dance performance was presented by Rancho and his girlfriend, Pia. Pia was falling in love to Rancho and she started to see visions of Rancho in all the TV programmes. She then had a vision of dancing together with him featuring a song called “Zoobi Doobi” where the lyrics said the characters’ hearts go “zoobi doobi” as they jig along.

Costume

          The costumes inside the films are colourful, especially those traditional clothing they were wearing, as in Hindu religion, colour plays an important role in all aspects in life. There were two wedding scenes in the film. When Pia was about to marry Suhas, she was dressing up herself in her room and Farhan came in. She was wearing an Indian traditional red wedding Lehenga with all the golden jewelleries. Red colour is believed as the most auspicious colour among Hindus. She then met Raju who dressed himself up as the bridegroom who was wearing Sherwani and his face was covered with a veiled with a curtain of flowers called Sehra, that is the traditional wedding clothes for men in North India. Other than the wedding clothes, traditional costumes are worn by the guests, mostly Sarees and Punjabis by the female guests. Sarees were also worn by Raju’s mother all the time.

          When Raju, Farhan and Chatur went to look for Rancho in Shimla, they found that Rancho’s house was having a funeral. All the visitors and the family members are wearing white clothes. White is the colour of purity, both mourners and the clothes worn to the funeral need to be cleaned and purified. Hindu funerals are meant to be simple and solemn, bright colours or black clothing might be seen as disrespectful to the deceased.

Style

          Indian films are different compared to Hollywood or other Asian cinema. 3 idiots doesn’t follow the three-act structure. The film maintained both traditional and modernism at the same time. The story was presented with dances and music just like any other Indian films but with a little touch on modernism.

          Farhan is the narrator of the film, the story was presented in his point of view. The film started with a scene of 5 years later where Raju and Farhan meet up with Chatur to look for Rancho. Farhan then recalled back the days they spent together in ICE (Imperial College of Engineering) 5 years ago. The story then jump back into the present days when they took their group photo together with their college’s director, Virus, after the exam result has released. The scene was cut when they discovered Rancho they know was studying for the real Rancho to get him the certificate. They start their journey again to look for their Rancho and the scene was cut back to the 5 years ago. The story was later telling the transformation of Raju and Farhan in the old days and how their relationship with Rancho was strongly built. The story then cuts again as Pia was asking Rancho to marry her but he said he can’t. When back to present days, Pia is getting married to Suhas. Raju and Farhan pursued her thus she ran away from her wedding to look for Rancho.

          Although the story was told in both present days and old days with jump cuts but there were connection with every cut. The story is telling in causes and effects, what happened in the past have made them changed in the future. Yet, there are still something that can’t change like the bond between Raju, Rancho and Farhan and the love of Pia towards Rancho.

          The film was a blockbuster in year 2009. It is a must watch film that made you laugh and cry for the reasons they gave in the film. It is also an encouragement and a lesson to the society. They encourage the youngsters to chase for what they wanted to achieve in life so that they don’t end up regretting the choices they made earlier. The film teaches the audiences of what hardship they will face and how should they get through it, just with a squeeze of courage they can get a better result.

References

Dr Raminder Kaur, Ajay J Sinha. (2005). Bollyworld: Popular Indian Cinema Through A Transnational Lens

Kishore Valicha. (1998). The Moving Image: A Study of Indian Cinema

Phani Sarma, N., Kavya, B. (2010). A brief review of the plot. Movie Analysis – 3 Idiots

Nicole Seaton.  What Color Do Hindus Wear to Funerals?. People by Demand Media. Retrieved from http://people.opposingviews.com/color-hindus-wear-funerals-3677.html

A Malaysian love story, Sepet

          Sepet, a film directed by Yasmin Ahmad and released in year 2004, a love story that happened between a pair of couple who have different family background, different races and different religions. The meaning of sepet stands for single-folded eyelid, which people often have stereotype on Asian, mostly Chinese people.

          Multiculturalism can be seen throughout the whole film, languages are part of them. The film uses Malay language as the main language as Orked, is a Malay, Cantonese is used for the side of Jason and when they both communicate, English is used most of the time. Sometimes the couple would talk in their lovers’ language as well, especially Orked, she can understand some Cantonese and she sometimes speaks it.

          Apart from the main characters, Jason’s family are slightly different from ordinary Chinese family. Hybridity shown where his father is an ordinary Chinese man but his mother is a nyonya. Baba-Nyonya are Chinese that practice Malay cultures. They speak Malay but with the mixture of Hokkien which origins from their ancestors. Nyonya wear Baju Kebaya, which is type of clothing for Malay woman but Baba will wear Baju Lokchuan that is from the Chinese. Although they practice Malay cultures but they remain their religion as the Chinese.

 

          Orked’s family consists of hybridity as well. They are Malay and they believe in Muslim but they sometimes speak English with each other. The Malay family are considered modern Malay family, there is one scene where Orked’s parents are dancing, most probably waltz or tango, with Siamese music as the background music. Besides that, Orked’s mother and Kak Yam love to watch Chinese drama series and they even sing a Cantonese song when they saw Jason. Orked gets influenced by them and that’s how she learns Cantonese.

          One of the important issues highlighted is the education system. The film mentioned about the scholarships, where different races get different rate of the scholarships offered. Kak Yam said Jason got 7A’s but he ended up selling pirated VCDs at the roadside. Jason also mentioned that he wanted to persuade Orked to give up her scholarship to those who really needs it. When Jason visits Keong at hospital, they talked about Chinese immigrants, Keong said that Hang Tuah, Hang Jebat and others are actually Chinese. Malaysian education system has always told that they are Malays in the schools’ history textbook. People have been saying that the government has changed the real history of Malaysia.

          The film talks about racial issues. Orked loves a Taiwanese-Japanese actor named Takeshi Kaneshiro and her best friend, Lin loves Leonardo DiCaprio. Lin once told Orked that Jason looks nothing like Takeshi and ask why would she likes so much about Chinese cultures. While Orked teased Lin back that why would she likes westerners, even get a boyfriend that looks like westerner as a substitution for Leonardo. Orked also mentioned that Malay have been marrying people out of their races. That issue was highlighted earlier when Lin ask her about the book where the French conquered Nigeria, the black people were brainwashed to believe that the whites are better, even the author of that book married a white woman. Even when Orked’s family saw Jason, Kak Yam said that Chinese are handsome. Jason also mentioned that his mother might not mind if he gets a Malay girlfriend because his mother is a nyonya.

          Religious issues are mentioned as well. Jason was told by his best friend, Keong, that he shouldn’t hang out with Malay girls, it’s going to be troubles. Furthermore, Jason has to change his religions and pork would be forbidden to him. There is another scene where Orked’s father questioned about his family members whether they have prayed but he was told that women are not allowed to pray when they are on their period. That happened to Muslim while some other religions might not share the same practice.

          Another issue is stereotype. Everyone looks at Chinese as they are all single-folded eyelid but they are actually not. People also seem to see Chinese as they would cheat a lot and Malays are always lazy. While the film shows that Keong can actually play piano and Jason loves poetry although they sell pirated VCDs and not going to universities.

          The film is worth to watch as it seems to be the first Malaysian film that touches about the issues between Chinese and Malays’ society. The film wanted to deliver a message to the people where love can buds between two different people that came from different background, in terms of religions, culture and even languages. But still, love can be formed if they willing to go through every hardships in life together.

References

Farah Azalea Mohamed Al Amin, Controversies surrounding Malaysian independent female director Yasmin Ahmad’s first film, Sepet.

Siti Zanariah Ahmad Ishak, 2011, Cultural Hybridity: Adapting and Filtering Popular Culture in Malaysian Television Programmes, Malaysian Journal of Media Studies, Vol. 13, No. 1, Pages 1–15.

Beh Chun Chee, 2006, The Portrayal of Multiculturalism in Malaysian National Cinema: A Case Study of Yasmin Ahmad’s Sepet.

Ang, Sze Wei, September 2007, Racial Hopes/Dreams/Fantasies: Negotiating Race, Class, and the Nation in Sepet.

Shuhaimi Baba's first film --- Selubung

          

          Selubung is a first full featured film directed by Shuhaimi Baba in year 1992 that won the Best Film title in Malaysian Film Award. Selubung itself means to be veil wore by female Muslims to conceal their faces.

          In the film, the main character, Mastura and her best friend, E.J are totally different in what they are chasing for in life. E.J wanted to go after her religion, she quits her study, she married brother Musa so that she will be in the right path in her life. While Mastura wanted to finish her study and get a job to live on.

          Mastura is a modern female representative in the film. She is a strong contrast to E.J. Mastura is independent and strong, she knows what she wants and how she will be achieving them. There is one scene when Halim is talking to Mastura about the exam they have passed, Halim said that he thought Mastura will go back home right away when she failed her paper because her mother was dead. Mastura didn’t quit and continued her study although her scholarship was cancel. She believes that study is important to her, it is important to everyone. She tried many times to persuade E.J to not give up her study because it is a great opportunity to get scholarships and study abroad.

          In a scene when the reporters paid a visit to Doctor Sardar at the Rescaid office, Mastura was hurt by the bomb, her godfather and the villagers chant the Muslim Testament of Faith at the village. Butterflies began to invade her mental world and she managed to wake up from coma in the end. Before all this happened, Mastura went to see her godfather by the time she came back from Australia. The butterflies fly around and stick to both of them, her godfather said that they will bring them luck. The butterflies seemed to be a sign of blessing from the people and the religion.

          E.J is a woman who believes so much in her religion. She believes that it is a sin for a woman to get higher education than her husband. She was told to give up her studies and marrying those who are in the right track. She has no doubt and she decided to marry right away. She even tried to convince Mastura that she will be fine if she marries Brother Musa because Brother Musa will save her soul and lead all of the believers to the right path. E.J is too obedient to her husband and her religion until she gave up what she had. She was not even getting a real chance to talk to Mastura. After Hani had killed her baby, she was sent back to Malaysia as Brother Musa is going to join Halim and Wn Ng in Middle East. E.J was hurt mentally for losing her baby and because she has once told Mastura that Hani is insane but Mastura did not believes in her. After the loss, E.J has a clearer mind and she began to think of things she can do. She then joins Rescaid to help and saves the children.

          Hani is another woman who embraces Islam in an extreme way. She once told Mastura that Zek is a Satan, over friendly with man and uncovered. Hani hasn’t been friendly to Mastura ever since then. During the wedding ceremony of E.J, while E.J was waiting for Mastura to come, Hani was mean and said that Mastura was not invited to the wedding, by meaning that Mastura shouldn’t be coming anyway. A hidden meaning behind Hani’s thought about those who are uncovered and not in the right track are not welcome. Mastura paid a visit after the wedding, Hani was not happy and she watched them talk all the time and doesn’t let them to talk for long.

          Doctor Sardar is another strong female character in the film. She did a lot of hard work to help the people in the Middle East. She has modern thinking but she also believes in her religion at the same time. There is one scene where she is watching TV and talking to Alwi about sending him back home, she said she hopes that the god will not forget about the people that are suffering in the war in Middle East. She was worried about the children in Middle East. When Kamal visited Doctor Sardar at her office, she was worried to continue their campaign because she received a threaten letter that asked them to stop the campaign or suffer the same fate as Rescaid in London. She was worrying all the time if their campaign was too aggressive that would put people’s lives in danger. Doctor Sardar shows the characteristics of a strong and independent woman which has the feminine touch inside her.

          The last part of the film is all the children are safe from the war in Middle East. The ending tends to deliver a message that the children can be safe with the believes in Islam and also the hard work besides of religion. Religion meant to be a bond between the people and motivation for them to live on. Both religion and modern mind are needed to do big things.

References

William Van der Heide. 2002. Malaysian Cinema, Asian Film: Border Crossings and National Cultures.

Hassan Muthalib. (October 13, 2005).  Voices of Malaysian Cinema.

Timothy R. White. 1997. Pontianaks, P. Ramlee, and Islam: The Cinema of Malaysia.

Shuhaimi Baba. 1992. Selubung [Motion picture].