SEPT 3 — It has been an unusual outing for TANDA PUTERA at the cinemas over the last weekend. Some tweets and comments in cyberspace reported spontaneous standing ovations in several cinemas at the end of the film despite the absence of the film’s stars and cast.

This is a welcomed development and a complete contrast to recent reports, complete with pictures, by certain media about a near-empty cinema hall (30 people)in Penang when the film was screened on a weekday afternoon which is quite common even for Hollywood films. A friend related how she and her husband were the only ones watching the James Bond film, “Skyfall” on a weekday in a shopping mall in Kelana Jaya. Another took his daughter and her friends to see the “One Direction- This is us” movie at a shopping mall in Bandar Utama on Monday and found that they were the only nine people in the whole theatre. So why werent these ‘near empty’ halls reported. Was there an ulterior motive to such mischievous reporting?

And as if this was not enough, some took the liberty of stealing still photos showing certain scenes to be used in the film from Tanda Putera’s Facebook account and claimed to have spotted some technical errors in the film.These were not scenes from the film which did not show any of the ‘technical errors’ ie the proton car, air- con ducts etc, so claimed. This outrageous lie and slander went almost viral and was picked up and debated by many, including a private TV station, which said ‘such errors should not be repeated by other filmmakers in the future’ in its news bulletin. We will be reporting all this to the Multimedia Commission and are conferring with our lawyer on the possibility of legal action.

That aside, despite being much maligned by the slander and the hatred drummed up by certain parties including political leaders, to discredit the film and its Director, we are delighted that TANDA PUTERA has done reasonably well at the box office for a film of its genre.  To the film’s detractors who are quick to label it an UMNO film, don’t you think the film would have been screened to full houses everywhere, as all 3 million UMNO members would have been compelled to watch? 

Apologies are definitely due but we won’t hold our breath. Good support, increasing requests for #private screenings by private parties at their chosen venues and increasing number of group bookings are expected to boost its collections significantly.

We thank Tanda Putera Facebook friends and other viewers who have been greatly supportive of this film, took the trouble to tweet and post their comments and have even been to see it more than once with their families. We hope those who have not seen it will support Tanda Putera and make time to catch it in the cinemas before the end of its 2-week run.

* D. P. Shuhaimi Baba Is the Producer / Director Tanda Putera.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malay Mail Online.