Call to support first Malaysian Tamil flick
Published on: Friday, August 02, 2024
By: Jonathan Nicholas
.jpg "Call to support first Malaysian Tamil flick")
Uthaya with Nagaraju and the local Indian community leaders and youths.
Kota Kinabalu: Sabah’s Indian minority are urged to support the two-week screening of local Tamil courtroom thriller “Vijay LLB The Advocate” at 1 Borneo Mall, which opened on Aug 1.
It is the first Malaysian Tamil movie to be screened in Sabah and also the country’s first courtroom movie (regardless of language).
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It’s also Malaysia’s first movie to be soundtracked by the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra and the first to be based on Tamil novel.
Producer and main actor Uthaya Raaga hopes for at least a 10 per cent turnout from the 10,000 Indians in Sabah.
“There will be two shows daily and if we can get 50 people per day it will be enough to meet the Must Show requirement by the National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (Finas).
“We expect support from at least 1,000 people. UMS has about 800 students and if 500 students and their group come out to watch, it would be good,” he told Daily Express.
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Uthaya said the movie, which highlights the problems of the country’s educational sector, carries a bigger role besides tapping the market that is to bridge Sabah’s Indians to their culture.
Uthaya worries that the language will fade among Sabah’s next Indian generations seeing that the state has no Tamil schools and where most come from mixed marriages.
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“The cultural bridge is the media which includes movies can sustain the language apart from schools and temples.
“The Indians living in Indonesia, Mauritius and South Africa have Tamil names but no longer speak the language. Sabah is becoming like that,” he said.
The well-known radio announcer, who plays a lawyer (protagonist), said it is his 10th film. Another that was filmed in India will be released in December.
He said he would be encouraged to shoot in Sabah and unearth its local talents given a good feedback from Vijay LLB.
“If successful here we can do better things based in Sabah and show the nice places.
“The Yayasan Sabah building is world class, gorgeous looking... Mt Kinabalu and Kundasang are also untapped in films,” he said.
The movie’s plot surrounds the murder of a college student which is pinned on a lecturer.
Inviting them over to Sabah to meet local community leaders at a hotel here was the Coalition of Sabah Indian Communities (CSIC) President Datuk A Nagaraju.
He urged everyone from all races to support the local film industry.
“It is our hope that the Indian identity in Sabah is preserved. Although we are not many, through this we don’t feel left out.
“The government has to play its role and not leave out the big screens in Sabah and Sarawak from Indian movies. We also want to feel one with our fellow Indians in West Malaysia,” he said.
Meanwhile, he hoped Unity Government would consider his 20-year fight for Minnal FM to be broadcast on Sabah’s airwaves in a bid to keep the language alive.
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