''Muallaf'' (
English: ''The Convert'') is a 2008
Malaysian Malay-language
Malay ( , ; , Jawi: ) is an Austronesian language spoken primarily by Malays in several islands of Maritime Southeast Asia and the Malay Peninsula on the mainland Asia. The language is an official language of Brunei, Malaysia, and Singa ...
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...
directed by
Yasmin Ahmad
Yasmin binti Ahmad (7 January 1958 – 25 July 2009) was a Malaysian film director, writer and scriptwriter. She was the executive creative director at Leo Burnett Kuala Lumpur. Her television commercials and films are well known in Malaysia fo ...
. It tells a tale of three souls finding solace in religion. This is Yasmin Ahmad's fifth film after ''
Rabun'', ''
Sepet
''Sepet'' ( English: ''Slit Eyes'') is a 2005 Malaysian Malay-language teen romantic comedy-drama film set in Ipoh, Malaysia. Directed by Yasmin Ahmad, it tells of a love that blooms between a Chinese boy and a Malay girl. ''Sepet'' is a Ma ...
'', ''
Gubra
''Gubra'' ( English: ''Anxiety'') is a 2006 Malaysian Malay-language romantic drama film directed by Yasmin Ahmad. It was shot in 14 days in Ipoh, Malaysia. It is the sequel to ''Sepet'', and was followed by '' Mukhsin''.
The title is a word ...
'' and ''
Mukhsin
''Mukhsin'' is a 2006 Malaysian Malay-language romantic drama film directed by Yasmin Ahmad. It is the third instalment in the "Orked" trilogy. Shot in just 12 days, it won one award and one special mention at the 57th Berlin International Fil ...
''.
Cast
* Brian Yap as Brian Goh, a history teacher at Rohana's school
*
Sharifah Amani
Sharifah Amani binti Syed Zainal Rashid Al-Yahya (born 10 June 1986), better known by her stage name Sharifah Amani, is a Malaysian actress. She is the best known for her role as Orked in Yasmin Ahmad's 'Orked' trilogy (''Sepet, Gubra'' and ...
as Rohani
* Sharifah Aleysha as Rohana
*
Rahim Razali
Abdul Rahim bin Mohd Razali (born 3 July 1939), better known by his stage name Rahim Razali, is a Malaysian actor, director, screenwriter, producer and sports commentator.
Life and career
He had his secondary education at Anderson Ipoh High ...
as Datuk, father of the two siblings
*
Ning Baizura
Ning Baizura binti Sheikh Hamzah (born 28 June 1975), better known by her stage name Ning Baizura, is a Malaysian pop and R&B singer, actress who sings in Malay, English, Japanese, Italian, French, Mandarin and Cantonese.
Early life
She ...
as Datin, mother of the two siblings
* Tony Savarimuthu as Bro. Anthony, Catholic priest and Principal of Rohana's school
* Hazel Fernandez as Mrs Siva, Rohana's Arts teacher
*
Yeo Yann Yann
Yeo Yann Yann (born 20 February 1977) is a Malaysian actress. She has worked in theatre, television, and film. Her credits include '' Singapore Dreaming'', ''Thunderstorm'', ''881'', ''Ilo Ilo'' and ''Wet Season''.
She is a pioneer-graduate ...
as Cindy, Rohani's colleague at Sid's Tavern Pub & Cafe
* Tan Mei Ling as Mrs Goh, Brian's mother
* Ho Yuhang as Datuk's private investigator
* Haris Zakaria as Little Brian
* Shana Shafiza Muzaffar Shah as Mei Ling
''Footnote:''
* ''Brian Yap's character was initially planned to be named Robert Ng.''
Production
The film was financed by an elderly Chinese businessman who was impressed by her previous film and invested in ''Muallaf'' to encourage her to continue to produce films.
was the original casting choice for Brian Goh but Wong was unable to commit to the film schedule in Malaysia due to him being required to stay in
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
.
Release
As Yasmin's previous films, ''Muallaf'' opened with the usual Islamic verse
Bismillahirahmanirrahim ("In the name of God, the most Gracious and most Merciful"). What set ''Muallaf'' apart from her previous works was that the verse was displayed in Chinese in this movie, i.e. "奉大仁大慈真主的尊名" (
Pinyin
Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...
: fèng dà rén dà cí Zhēn Zhǔ de zūn míng). It was understood that the verse would be displayed in Tamil in her next film, ''
Talentime''.
As Yasmin's second feature film, ''Sepet'', ''Muallaf'' was first screened in Singapore instead of Malaysia, where it was shot. The film ran for 4 weeks in Singapore from 27 November to 24 December 2008, recording turnouts more than that of ''Sepet''. ''Muallaf'' was first denied screening in Malaysian cinemas due to the Malaysian censorship authorities request of key scenes to be cut, thus rendering the story meaningless. However, one year later, ''Muallaf'' finally opened in Malaysia nationwide on 24/12/09 with a few dialogues muted.
Accolades
Awards won
* 21st Tokyo International Film Festival (18 - 26 October 2008) ~ Special Mention Best Asian-Middle Eastern Film
* 2010 Screen Awards - Best Film & Best Actress in a Leading Role (Sharifah Amani)
Official selection
* 61st Locarno International Film Festival (6 - 16 August 2008)
* 13th Pusan International Film Festival (2 - 10 October 2008)
* Rialto Film Festival, Amsterdam - New Malaysian Cinema
References
External links
Singapore
RazorTV Interview with Yasmin Ahmad on ''Muallaf'' (part 1)Lianhae Zaobao (28 November 2008): 《改心》马来姐妹花逃家 (''Muallaf'': Two Malay sisters on the run)TODAY (29 November 2008): Much ado about ''Muallaf''
Indonesia
*
*
Malaysia
Cinema Online: ''Muallaf'' Review
{{Yasmin Ahmad
2008 films
2008 drama films
Films directed by Yasmin Ahmad
Malaysian drama films
Malay-language films
Chinese-language Malaysian films
Cantonese-language Malaysian films
2000s English-language films