''Banglasia'' or ''Banglasia 2.0'' () is a Malaysian action comedy film by

Namewee Wee Meng Chee (; born 6May 1983), better known by his stage name Namewee (), is a Malaysian hip hop recording artist, composer, filmmaker and actor. His stage name is a bilingual pun on his first name, the English term for 'name' (). Wee gain ...

, released on 28 February 2019. The story follows several Malaysians of different races and a Bangladeshi worker as they come together to defend the country comically against the invasion of the fictional Luk Luk Kingdom. The cast includes Namewee himself, Bangladeshi actor Nirab, Malaysian artists

Saiful Apek Muhammad Saiful Azam Mohamed Yusoff (born 12 May 1969) or better known as Saiful Apek is a comedian of Malaysia. He was once called "Malaysia's No.1 Comedian" during his heyday and also the title of "Sifu" by comedians today. Until today, his ...

, David Arumugam of the Alleycats, Shashi Tharen, Zhu Youliu, Singaporean artists Atikah Suhaime and Yoo Ah Min/Lao Zha Bor. The budget was more than RM 2 million, and was shot in Kuala Lumpur's

Petaling Street Petaling Street (Malay language, Malay: ''Jalan Petaling'', Simplified Chinese: 茨厂街, Traditional Chinese: 茨廠街, pinyin: Cíchǎng Jiē, Cantonese jyutping: ci4 cong2 gaai1) is a Chinatown located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The whole ...

. The film was made in 2013. Despite having completed filming in that year, Namewee revealed in a 2014 video that the Film Censorship Board of Malaysia had banned the original film version over scrutiny of 31 scenes that were deemed objectionable by the board. The original uncut version was shown in 2015 at three film festivals. On 12 February 2019, five years later, after having 7 scenes reedits or cut, a small reshoot and updates, the board finally approved ''Banglasia'' for public screening in Malaysia, retitled ''Banglasia 2.0''.

Synopsis

The film focuses on three characters from different backgrounds: Harris ('' Nirab''), a Bangladeshi worker in Malaysia who just wants to return to his hometown to marry the love of his life; Hanguoren (''Namewee''), a pro-Malaysian activist who wants his fellow citizens to join him in regaining the country in its natural state without immigrants; and Rina (''Atikah Suhaime''), an idealistic daughter of a boss who has fallen for Harris at first sight. The trio, along with several other characters, have to survive the sudden invasion of the nearby fictional Luk Luk Kingdom. The films touches and satires on social issues such as corruption, inequality, human trafficking, ethnic relations, and also cultural understandings between the characters.

Cast

* Nirab as Harris *

as Han guo ren (韓國仁), also portrayed Han De De *

as Omar * David Arumugam as Raja Luk Luk * Atikah Suhamie as Rina, Yana Koh as Injured Rina * Shashi Tharan as Wira * Lao Zha Bo (尤雅敏) as Han guo ren's Grandma * Zhu You Liu (朱宥六) as Ah Seng * Craze (神導) as Balak * Alfa Wong as Satu, frictional version of

Najib Razak Mohammad Najib bin Abdul Razak (, ; born 23 July 1953) is a Malaysian politician who served as the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia from 2009 to 2018. In 2020, he was convicted of corruption in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal, on ...

* Bao (發财寶) as Rose, Satu's wife, frictional version of

Rosmah Mansor Rosmah binti Mansor ( Jawi: روسمه بنت منصور; born 10 December 1951) is the second wife of former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Najib Razak. Like her husband, she was implicated in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal (1MDB). On ...

, Najib Razak's wife * Vimalan Mathiakgan as Katak * Pak Limra as Putih * Bean (密史得賓) as Ah Bean * Teacher Hew (丘老师 (德财)) as Ah Chai * Mizanur Rahman as Dirty Harris' Best Friend * Sukarnia Venugopal as Harris's Mother * Raja Ilya as Laboni * Deen Maidin as Laboni's father * Kinki Ryusaki as Aki, Han guo ren's Girlfriend * Chong Sau Lin as Magician * Han Xiiao Aii (韓曉噯) as Thai Nurse * Jack Lim as Hostage (security guard) * Ling Big Yong as High School Kid 1 * Joseph Germani as High School Kid 2

Release

Banning

The film was originally scheduled for release on 30 January 2014, the Lunar New Year's Eve in Malaysia, but because the film dealt with Malaysian politics, it faced difficulties from the

Film Censorship Board of Malaysia The Film Censorship Board of Malaysia ( Malay: ''Lembaga Penapis Filem'') is a Malaysian government ministry that vets films. It is under the control of the Ministry of Home Affairs. History and legislative regulations LPF was established on 1 ...

. The board states 31 scenes that is objectionable. Deleting or altering all 31 scenes would require major re-shootings of the film, and because those points are major plot for most of the film, reshootings seems unlikely. After several twists and turns, ''Banglasia'' was officially declared banned. One of the reasons for the original version of the movie is being banned was that it portrayed sympathetically the gay lifestyle in Malaysia. The Malaysian Home Ministry claimed that the film “accentuated negative sociocultural lifestyles such as lesbian gay bisexual transgender (LGBT)” and at the same time “ridiculed the capacity and role of security troops in maintaining peace as well as national security.” Nevertheless, the original uncut film version was publicly shown for the first time in Southeast Asia at the Singapore International Film Festival held in December 2015, also at the New York Asian Film Festival and Osaka Asian Film Festival in the same year. In 2019, after several times of appealing, the film was finally unbanned.

Kickstarter campaign

In December 2015, Namewee had opened up a

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

campaign seeking to raise USD 500,000 within 40 days to partially recoup their initial production cost of more than RM4 million (USD 1 million) so that they can afford to release the movie globally for free. Part of the funds would be used to pay for extra post-production editing, and qualified donors would receive their mentions of name in the front and end credits. Wee however failed to reach his accomplished goal as he confirmed on his Facebook page where he only collected USD 186,468, which did not even reach half of his intended money needed.

Banning lifted and ''Banglasia 2.0''

On 12 February 2019, Banglasia movie producers received official notification of approval from the board. After a six-year wait, Namewee and the filmmakers say they are relieved that the movie will finally make it into cinemas although they have had to make cut 7 scenes and do a reshoot to update the story with new scenes to make it relevant. Scenes cut from the film include gun shooting scenes, LGBT-suggestive scenes, a scene mentioning the

MyKad The Malaysian identity card () is the compulsory identity card for Malaysian citizens aged 12 and above. The current identity card, known as MyKad, was introduced by the ''National Registration Department of Malaysia'' on 5 September 2001 as on ...

, and a scene which compares the safety of Malaysians and Singaporeans. The scenes cut do not affect the storyline. Namewee retitled his movie as ''Banglasia 2.0'', announcing that his movie is headed for release in Malaysia cinemas nationwide on 28 February 2019.

References

External links

*
''Banglasia''
on Cinema.com.my {{DEFAULTSORT:Banglasia Chinese-language Malaysian films 2015 films Films shot in Kuala Lumpur 2015 action comedy films Films directed by Namewee Film censorship in Malaysia 2010s Mandarin-language films Malay-language films 2010s English-language films Malaysian political films Malaysian action comedy films Malaysian satirical films 2010s Bengali-language films Films with screenplays by Namewee Censored films 2010s political comedy films 2010s spy comedy films LGBTQ-related controversies in film Film controversies 2015 multilingual films Malaysian multilingual films English-language action comedy films