Muallaf - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Muallaf is a 2008 Malaysian drama film directed by Yasmin Ahmad

Yasmin Ahmad

Yasmin Ahmad was a film director, writer and scriptwriter from Malaysia and was also the executive creative director at Leo Burnett Kuala Lumpur. Her television commercials and films are well-known in Malaysia for their humour, heart and love that crosses cross-cultural barriers, in particular her...

. It tells a tale of three souls finding solace in religion. This is Yasmin Ahmad's fifth film after Rabun

Rabun

Rabun is a 2003 Malaysian drama film directed by Yasmin Ahmad. It tells a story about a free-spirited older couple, Pak Atan and Mak Inom who decide to spend more time in the country after getting tired of city life. But they find that life in the old village isn't a good thing when they get...

, Sepet

Sepet

Sepet is a 2004 Malaysian romantic comedy drama film set in Ipoh, Malaysia. Directed by Yasmin Ahmad, it tells a tale of a love that blooms between a Chinese boy and a Malay girl. Sepet is a Malay word which, in this context, refers to the 'slit eyes' of the Chinese.-Plot:19-year old Ah Loong is...

, Gubra

Gubra

Gubra is a 2006 Malaysian film directed by Yasmin Ahmad. It was shot in 14 days in Ipoh, Malaysia. It is the sequel to Sepet, and was followed by Mukhsin.-Name:...

and Mukhsin

Mukhsin

Mukhsin is a 2007 Malaysian film directed by Yasmin Ahmad. It is the third installment in the "Orked" trilogy. Shot in just 12 days, it won one award and one special mention at the 57th Berlin International Film Festival under the children's film category: International Jury of Generation Kplus -...

Cast

Actor/Actress Actor An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...	Character	Notes
Brian Yap	Brian Goh	History teacher at Rohana's school
Sharifah Amani Sharifah Amani Sharifah Amani Syed Zainal Rashid Al-Yahya is a Malaysian actress. She is the second daughter of veteran Malaysian actress, Fatimah Abu Bakar. Sharifah is of Malay-Chinese-Arab-Bengali parentage and speaks fluent English, Malay and some Hindi...	Rohani	Rohana's elder sister, 20/21 y/o
Sharifah Aleysha	Rohana	Rohani's younger sister, 14 y/o
Datuk Rahim Razali	Datuk	Rohani and Rohana's abusive father
Ning Baizura Ning Baizura Ning Baizura binti Sheikh Hamzah , popularly known as Ning, is a Malaysian pop and R&B singer, who records and sings in languages, including Bahasa Malaysia, English, Japanese, Italian, French, Mandarin and Cantonese...	Datin	Rohani and Rohana's stepmother
Tony Savarimuthu	Bro. Anthony	Catholic priest and Principal of Rohana's school
Hazel Fernandez	Mrs Siva	Rohana's Arts teacher
Yeo Yann Yann Yeo Yann Yann Yeo Yann Yann is a Singapore-based actress. A pioneer-graduate of The Theatre Training and Research Programme , she has worked in theatre, television, and film; recent performances include Singapore Dreaming , Thunderstorm 雷雨 and a movie in August 2007, 881...	Cindy	Rohani's colleague at Sid's Tavern Pub & Cafe
Tan Mei Ling	Mrs Goh	Brian's mother
Ho Yuhang	Datuk's private investigator
Haris Zakaria	Little Brian
Shana Shafiza Muzaffar Shah	Mei Ling	Coma girl

Footnote: Brian Yap's character was initially planned to be named Robert Ng.

Closure

It was not clear what had happened to Rohana. However, it could be assumed that Rohani had finally met up with Rohana considering that she had volunteered to take care of her stroke-hit father who had snatched away Rohana earlier.
It was not shown explicitly whether Brian was attracted to Rohani or the religion of Islam itself. If Brian was in love with Rohani, this would probably mark the first time Yasmin concealed the romantic relationship in films that contain the agenda of love.

Screening

As Yasmin's previous films, Muallaf opened with the usual Islamic verse "In the name of God, the most Gracious and most Merciful" (Bismillah

Bismillah

There are multiple uses of Bismillah :* Bismillah is first word of the Basmala phrase of Islam.* Bismillah , born in Oruzgan, Afghanistan, in 1952...

irahmanirrahim). What set Muallaf apart from her previous works was that the verse was displayed in Chinese in this movie, i.e. "奉大仁大慈真主的尊名" (Pinyin

Pinyin

Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...

: fèng dà rén dà cí Zhēn Zhǔ de zūn míng). It was understood that the verse would be displayed in Tamil in her next film, Talentime

Talentime

Talentime is a 2009 Malaysian drama film written and directed by Yasmin Ahmad. Yasmin, in her blog, has described it "as a story full of joy and pain, hope and despair, a host of beautifully-written songs, and rich, rich characters"...

.

As Yasmin's second feature film, Sepet, Muallaf was first screened in Singapore instead of Malaysia, where it was shot. The film ran for 4 weeks in Singapore from 27 November to 24 December 2008, recording turnouts more than that of Sepet. Muallaf was first denied screening in Malaysian cinemas due to the Malaysian censorship authorities request of key scenes to be cut, thus rendering the story meaningless. However, 1 year later, Muallaf finally opens in Malaysia nationwide on 24/12/09 with a few dialogues muted.

Awards won

21st Tokyo International Film Festival (18 - 26 Oct 2008) ~ Special Mention Best Asian-Middle Eastern Film
2010 Screen Awards - Best Film & Best Actress in a Leading Role (Sharifah Amani)

Official selection

61st Locarno International Film Festival (6 - 16 Aug 2008)
13th Pusan International Film Festival (2 - 10 Oct 2008)
Rialto Film Festival, Amsterdam - New Malaysian Cinema

Trivia

The scene where Rohani was forcibly shaved bald had incurred the wrath of several local religious scholars on the pretext that it is forbidden in Islam for a Muslim female to shave her head.

Reviews and Interviews with Yasmin Ahmad on the film

Singapore

Indonesia

Malaysia

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