Jagat (Trilingual Malaysian; 2015)
History has taught us again and again that the fate of a tribe/community/race is so dependent on the foresightedness of its leaders. Many civilisations soared to great heights or conversely disappeared into obscurity due to lack of direction, all because of the presence of a capable or weak leader respectively.
A leader is the one who foresees any untoward incidents that may come the way of his flock so as that he can pave a safe path. His mission is to serve his kind to ensure their continuity as a formidable group. For this task, the leader is accorded certain privileges which the society can withdraw at any juncture they feel apt. When the followers continue to follow blindly to the tricks of the sycophantic leaders and play doormat to their demands without batting an eyelid but wallowing their misfortune in fate, they truly deserve the leaders they get. Instead of the politicians working towards the well-being of the plebeians, looks like the people are hoodwinked to ensure the reign of the leaders stays uninterrupted! Whose fault is it, anyway?
The first thing I noticed when I caught this film aboard an Air Asia flight was the extremely picturesque shots of the landscapes around Malaysia. It was sometimes difficult to believe that those scenes were literally taken off our own backyards. The scene at the jetty, at a factory and even the open spaces, gave a luring view of the Malaysian outdoors.
The theme of the film is the story of any failed Malaysian Indian citizen who lost out in the rat race of development. The Indian diaspora which scaled the shores of most countries has done well. Indians in Fiji, South Africa, Mauritius, Surinam, Uganda, you name it, they control the economy. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the descendants of Indian migrant workers who were brought to the Malayan shores to toil the land. Sure, many have succeeded and have left their mark. The unsuccessful ones remain rudderless and bury their sorrows in the tombstones of their ancestors and the proof of their forefathers' sacrifice to the nation.
Aboy is a 12-year old boy who is at a crossroad. On the one hand, there is his hardworking father who works for a pittance to ensure his son gets a decent education. He does not want his son to repeat his same mistake, to immerse himself in drama and literary stuff that does nothing to pay the bills. He disciplines his son in the only way he knows to put him on the right track. Then there is Aboy's uncle, his father's brother who seems to be well to do without working too much, by indulging in gangsterism. Aboy's schooling system and teachers have no time to spur his hidden talent. Their emphasis is rote learning. With the adverse environment in school and the village he lives in, it is inevitable that Aboy is drawn to the dark side of society. Ironically, at the end of the movie, the uncle decides to leave the decadent life, but Aboy is initiated into it! History just repeats itself.
It is one of the few Malaysian Tamil movies that drew a sizeable multi-ethnic crowd to the cinemas and made quite an impact at the local film awards. It was even screened at the international level.
History has taught us again and again that the fate of a tribe/community/race is so dependent on the foresightedness of its leaders. Many civilisations soared to great heights or conversely disappeared into obscurity due to lack of direction, all because of the presence of a capable or weak leader respectively.
A leader is the one who foresees any untoward incidents that may come the way of his flock so as that he can pave a safe path. His mission is to serve his kind to ensure their continuity as a formidable group. For this task, the leader is accorded certain privileges which the society can withdraw at any juncture they feel apt. When the followers continue to follow blindly to the tricks of the sycophantic leaders and play doormat to their demands without batting an eyelid but wallowing their misfortune in fate, they truly deserve the leaders they get. Instead of the politicians working towards the well-being of the plebeians, looks like the people are hoodwinked to ensure the reign of the leaders stays uninterrupted! Whose fault is it, anyway?
The first thing I noticed when I caught this film aboard an Air Asia flight was the extremely picturesque shots of the landscapes around Malaysia. It was sometimes difficult to believe that those scenes were literally taken off our own backyards. The scene at the jetty, at a factory and even the open spaces, gave a luring view of the Malaysian outdoors.
The theme of the film is the story of any failed Malaysian Indian citizen who lost out in the rat race of development. The Indian diaspora which scaled the shores of most countries has done well. Indians in Fiji, South Africa, Mauritius, Surinam, Uganda, you name it, they control the economy. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the descendants of Indian migrant workers who were brought to the Malayan shores to toil the land. Sure, many have succeeded and have left their mark. The unsuccessful ones remain rudderless and bury their sorrows in the tombstones of their ancestors and the proof of their forefathers' sacrifice to the nation.
Aboy is a 12-year old boy who is at a crossroad. On the one hand, there is his hardworking father who works for a pittance to ensure his son gets a decent education. He does not want his son to repeat his same mistake, to immerse himself in drama and literary stuff that does nothing to pay the bills. He disciplines his son in the only way he knows to put him on the right track. Then there is Aboy's uncle, his father's brother who seems to be well to do without working too much, by indulging in gangsterism. Aboy's schooling system and teachers have no time to spur his hidden talent. Their emphasis is rote learning. With the adverse environment in school and the village he lives in, it is inevitable that Aboy is drawn to the dark side of society. Ironically, at the end of the movie, the uncle decides to leave the decadent life, but Aboy is initiated into it! History just repeats itself.
It is one of the few Malaysian Tamil movies that drew a sizeable multi-ethnic crowd to the cinemas and made quite an impact at the local film awards. It was even screened at the international level.
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