Jagat’s journey Into Malaysian Cinematic History - When Jagat premiered on the same day as Star Wars: The Force Awakens in December 2015, it looked like Shanjhey Kumar Perumal’s directorial feature debut was destined to be overshadowed at the cinemas. But Jagat, just like its poster boy Appoi (played by Harvind Raj) in the film, did not go down without a fight.
The film, about a poor young boy falling into gangsterism, clawed its way out of the Hollywood blockbuster frenzy with a relentless social media campaign.
With positive reviews and word of mouth recommendation (and endorsements from celebrities like Sharifah Amani, Dain Said, Jo Kukathas, Gaz Abu bakar and Ida Nerina), Jagat became the longest-running local Tamil film in cinemas – a record eight weeks of screening at GSC Nu Sentral in Kuala Lumpur.
Months after its release, Jagat became the talk of the industry again in 2016 when the 28th Malaysia Film Festival (FFM) nominations were announced.
Initially, the film was excluded from the Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay categories as it did not meet a ruling that all local film entries must be in 70% Bahasa Malaysia to qualify.
Instead, it had to compete in separate non-Bahasa Malaysia categories. Shanjhey expressed his frustration over the divide.
He explained how Jagat was categorised as a Malaysian film when it was screened at the New York Asian Film Festival. The film was also labelled as “Malaysian” when Shanjhey sent it for the Digital Cinema Process in India.
“But in our homeland, our films are categorised according to languages so I think this is not necessary and I think it is something that is immature,” he said in a televised interview.
Shanjhey also issued a press statement seeking clarification from the National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (Finas) and FFM judging committee over the 70% Bahasa Malaysia ruling as it was not stated anywhere in the 1981 Finas Act.
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