KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 5 — The producer of popular animated series “Upin & Ipin” is confident the controversial lewd images surrounding the character of Kak Ros will not impact its young fans.
Producer Ainon Ariff said the manipulated images of the sister to the series’ titular twins is an act of sabotage, with only adults seemingly interested in discussing the matter.
“I believe [Upin & Ipin] won’t be affected because the children don’t know about it. Only adults know,” she told ProjekMMO.
“There is no problem because it has nothing to do with us. People wouldn’t even know about it if we didn’t highlight it.
“It’s normal for people to want to sabotage, because we will be releasing a film soon. There will always be people who this sort of things but we don’t know who,” she added.
Ainon and her husband Burhanuddin Radzi, owner of Les’ Copaque Production, were met at the red carpet of the 28th Malaysia Film Festival (FFM) here, last Saturday.
Ros, the fierce elder sister in “Upin & Ipin”, was reportedly the victim of sexual exploitation after “sexy” illustrations of her were made available online.
Seven caricatures of Kak Ros were uploaded on a graphic design website where the images were digitally manipulated.
The images depict Kak Ros in sexy clothing, with Bernama reporting that the images were made to look as though she was wearing nothing at all.
Since being uploaded on July 3, the image has been accessed 4,000 times and concerns have been raised over it possibly affecting children.
Speaking to ProjekMMO, Burhanuddin who is also a producer of “Upin & Ipin” said this act of sabotage was no surprise as it has happened before in the past.
“It happens to us often, we are used to it. There was the water issue, claims regarding Judaism and others. It’s normal,” he said.
“Our staff has already lodged a [police] report. The staff has already issued a statement that we are not the ones behind this.” Ainon said the “Upin & Ipin Jeng Jeng Jeng” film, which features the kampung children of the show will begin screening in cinemas nationwide starting November 24.
However she said the film will not see a simultaneous screening with Indonesia due to the different school holiday seasons.
“‘Upin & Ipin Jeng Jeng Jeng’ comes out November 24. Right now we are making our rounds in Indonesia to get it in the cinemas there,” she said.
“We can’t premiere it on the same dates because the school holidays period is different. If we released it at the same time, it would be during their exams period. We were advised against it.
“It will be screened in Indonesia in December. When the students there have finished their exams, then we will screen it.
The film is directed by Erma Fatima, starring child actress Putri Balqis who will be sharing the screen with Awie of Wings and Sara Ali.
“Upin & Ipin Jeng Jeng Jeng” is a combination live action and animated film which will see the characters Upin and Ipin animated into a real world setting, with special effects produced by KRU Studios.
* Editor’s note: An earlier version wrongly stated Siti Saleha as an actress starring in the upcoming Upin & Ipin Jeng Jeng Jeng film. Malay Mail Online apologises for the error.
