Tanda Putera

Tanda Putera
Directed by	Shuhaimi Baba
Written by	Noraini Baba Shuhaimi Baba Haslina Samad
Screenplay by	Shuhaimi Baba
Story by	Noraini Baba Shuhaimi Baba Haslina Samad
Based on	1969 racial riots
Produced by	Shuhaimi Baba Kavita Sidhu Ibrahim Elias Kamarul Nizam Abdul Rahman
Starring	Rusdi Ramli Zizan Nin Faezah Elai Linda Hashim
Cinematography	Filus Ghazali
Edited by	H. W. Kuang
Music by	Sharon Paul
Production company	Pesona Pictures
Release date	August 29, 2013(2013-08-29)(Malaysia)
Running time	115 minutes
Country	Malaysia
Language	Malay
Budget	MYR 4 million
Box office	MYR 0.93 million

Tanda Putera(English:The Mark of a Prince) is a 2013MalaysianMalay-languagehistoricalpolitical drama filmdirected byShuhaimi Baba.The film chronicles the relationship betweenTun Abdul Razak,who was the second Malaysian Prime Minister, and his then deputyTun Dr Ismailset around the time after the1969 racial riots.The film was intended to be released inMalaysiancinemas on 13 September 2012 but the release was delayed until 29 August 2013due to some controversy regarding the portrayal of the racial riots being the plot point of the film. It isShuhaimi Baba's sequel film to1957: Hati Malayain 2007.

Plot

The film is a fiction loosely based from the race riots of 1969, when the racial tension had reached its height.The film portrays the close friendship between the second Malaysian prime minister,Tun Abdul Razakand his deputy, Tun Dr Ismail. They were secretive about their health problems as they had the task of restoring the peace in their country following the events of 13 May 1969. Tun Razak was suffering from leukaemia and he had to keep it a secret from his family, so they both sought the services of Dr. Macpherson, who used his reading room as a secret clinic for his treatment.

Cast

• Rusdi RamliasAbdul Razak Hussein,Deputy Prime Minister (later Prime Minister 2nd) and husband Rahah
• Zizan Nin asIsmail Abdul Rahman,Minister of Home Affairs later Deputy Prime Minister to Razak
• Faezah Elai asRahah Mohammad Noah,Abdul Razak's wife
• Linda Hashim as Norashikin Mohd Seth, Ismail's wife
• Kamarulzaman Taib asTunku Abdul Rahman,First Prime Minister and mentor Abdul Razak,Ismail
• Nazril Idrus asMahathir Mohamad,a doctor and Member Parliament Kubang Pasu
• Norman Hakim as Inspector-GeneralMohammed Hanif bin Omar,Inspector of General Police 4th
• Sakhee Shamsuddin asNajib Razak,Abdul Razak's son
• Bell Ngasri as DatoHarun Idris,Menteri Besar Selangor
• Amar Baharin asTengku Razaleigh Hamzah,Founder Petronas
• Riz Amin asIbrahim Ismail,high ranking officer Malaysian Armed Forces
• Azliyuszaini Mohd Noor asMohamed Salleh Ismael,Inspector of General Police 2nd
• Kavita Sidhuas Kara
• Riezman Khuzaimi as Sergeant Aman
• Kuza as Maimon
• Zaefrul Nordin as Corporal Musa
• Ika Nabila as Zarah
• Zoey Rahman as Johan
• Shiqin Kamal as Zailah Ismail
• Ahya U as Zaman
• Alan Yun as Allen
• Starley Wong as Father's Allen
• Douglas Limas Leslie Cheah
• Ida Nerinaas Jah Steno
• Sharifah Shahirah as Headmaster
• Chew Kin Wahas Tan Chong Chor
• Fizz Fairuz asArshad Ayub

Historical accuracy

Shuhaimi Baba had stated that the film is based on true historical facts and that it is not a propaganda and that the film is mainly about the friendship between Tun Razak and Tun Dr Ismail, while the 13 May incident is merely a backdrop to the film. However, Shuhaimi also mentioned that there were significant amounts of creative illustration and fictional content added in.

Reception

Critical response

Aidil Rusli writing forThe Starcalls the film "an engaging experience"despite its "niggling faults" - its approach to an episodic narrative "having to cram everything into a two-hour movie", and "less-than-believable"CGIshots to illustrate the period the film was set in.

Umapagan Ampikaipakan, of radio stationBFM 89.9,on the review website UmaandJoe says that the film glorified Abdul Razak and Dr Ismail at the expense of their predecessorTunku Abdul Rahman;that it had "made Tunku look like a blithering fool. It made him look toothless. [...] when you tell the story, you don’t undermine another leader. You don’t sayBill Clintonwas great butJFKwas a loser.”His co-host Johanan Sen observed on the production aspect of the film where its first half "looks like an unfinishedHistory Channelspecial without voiceovers done or without any proper historians being interviewed. [...]...a re-enactment footage arranged together without proper narrative. "

Erna Mahyuni ofMalay Mail,in a scathing commentary of the film that was widely circulated online, also stated of its seemingly lacking of a coherent narrative; with the ensemble cast's performance having "the collective expressiveness ofIKEAfurniture ". The performance of lead actor Rusdi Ramli in particular was derided for his" unconvincing "expressions and" forced "chemistry with co-actor Zizan Nin, the latter aspect coming across as" a parody ofbromance".Erni further wrote that the movie appeared to havenegationistundertones against the 1969 riots and it negatively portrayed the two statesmen protagonists "as pompous idiots who do not trust their wives".

There was also some common ground regarding how the central characters of Abdul Razak and Ismail, and their wives had been miscast by more younger actors.

Box-office

The movie failed to collect back its budget, affected by the Penang screening ban and intense competition with other international movies that were also showing in cinemas at the time such asKick-Ass 2andThe Mortal Instruments: City of Bones.In addition, another local movie that was released at about the same time titledKL Zombisurpassed it and the aforementioned international films to hit second place in opening weekend takings between 29 August and 4 September alone, with onlyElysiumbeating it at first place.

Controversies and issues

Penang ban, viewing advisory and screening

Before the release of the film, it sparked controversies about the accuracy of its contents after the release of the trailer in relation to the 13 May riots. Opposition lawmakers alleged that the film portrayed the Chinese and theDemocratic Action Party(DAP) in a negative light.Further controversy was caused after there were allegations that the film's official Facebook page featured a picture of opposition lawmakerLim Kit Siangbeing carried away by a group of uniformed officials with captions claiming that Lim had urinated on theSelangor flagin the house of former Selangor chief ministerHarun Idris.Lim denied the allegation in response and said that the picture featuring him in the Facebook page was actually taken inSabahin 1984. The director Shuhaimi Baba also denied that Lim was to be featured in the film.

On 28 August 2013, thePenangstate government had sent out advisory directivesto all cinema operators in the state to not screen the movie. Chief MinisterLim Guan Enghad claimed that there are slanderous scenes that could provoke racial hatred.However, less than 24 hours after the directives were issued on 29 August, the state government issued another contradictory letter stating they were merely "advised" against screening it, instead of otherwise banning it. Cinemas in Penang eventually screened the movie despite the state government's advisory. Communications and Multimedia MinisterAhmad Shabery Cheeksaid the movie would reach cinemas in Penang starting 31 August 2013.

External links

• Tanda PuteraatIMDb