KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 21 — Among things Malaysians hold close to heart is their love for food, and one YouTuber has decided to incorporate his adoration for the local mamaks into a parody video, with the trailer for the Lion King remake.
The video, uploaded onto the “Steven Bones Everything” channel, is dubbed over with local references parodying Elton John’s Circle of Life, with the iconic Zulu morning call now proclaiming the words “nasi lemak”.
The video incorporates local references, where a voice at the beginning says: “Anything the light touches can be put inside the roti, and everything else you can tambah (add) cheese.
“But what you must always remember is to never serve the nasi lemak without the sambal,” the voice narrates before the infamous morning call is heard.
As chanted by the Academy Award winning Lebo M. in the original 1994 motion picture, the parody instead says: “Nasi lemak, tambah ayam masak merah”.
The original phrase sang by Lebo says: “Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba,” which translates to, “here comes a lion, father”.
The 84-second video repeats the opening theme of the song, this time adding several more local delicacies into the lyrics, such as sambal sotong (squid and chilli paste), teh o’ ais (iced lemon tea), telur mata (egg sunny side up) and teh panas (hot milk tea).
It has been viewed at least 395,000 times on Youtube at the time of writing.
The same user who is believed to be a Sabah native also parodies another section of Lion King, this time transforming the iconic Hakuna Matata phrase into “Aku minum arak” (I drink alcohol).
The commentary is dubbed over scenes from the movie which originally shows Simba, Timon, and Pumbaa exploring the African plains, after the death of Simba’s father Mufasa.
The video is an obvious reference to the Sabah drinking culture mostly over their harvest festival, with local salutation “Aramaiti” used in the skit.
“When there’s a problem we, say Aramaiti, aku minum arak,” as opposed to, the original phrase of “it’s our problem free philosophy, Hakuna Matata”.
It also manages to parody e-hailing services Grab Holdings, with one section of the tune saying “Kalau awak minum, kena naik Grab balik” (If you drink, take a Grab home).
The video also includes local Sabah references such as the Tamparuli bridge and Mount Kinabalu in the script to go along with the scenic illustrations from the original movie.
