''Raja Bersiong'' (King of the Fanged Wings) is a 1968
Malaysian Malay-language historical
epic film
Epic films have large scale, sweeping scope, and spectacle. The term is slightly ambiguous, sometimes designating a film genre and at other times simply big-budget films. Like epics in the classical literary sense, it is often focused on a her ...
Malay film directed by Jamil Sulong and based on a story by former Malaysian Prime Minister
Tunku Abdul Rahman
Tunku Abdul Rahman (8 February 19036 December 1990), commonly referred to as Tunku, was a Malaysian statesman who served as prime minister of Malaysia from 1957 to 1970. He previously served as the only chief minister of Federation of Malaya ...
. Despite costing
RM 750,000 to produce, ten times the cost of the average Malaysian film, it was a flop at the box-office.
The story is loosely based on historical myth
Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa, first told about Hindu-Malayan empires pre-Islamic
Kedah
Kedah (), also known by its honorific Darul Aman (Islam), Aman (دار الأمان; Arabic for 'The Safe Abode') and historically as Queda, is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia, located in the northwestern part of ...
that was once ruled by Raja Ong Maha Perita Deria The story is very popular and has been filmed twice, in 1963 and 1968. It has also been staged as a theatrical production by the Petronas Performing Arts Group.
Kakiseni.com - The 60 Second Plug: "Raja Bersiong"
Synopsis (''Raja Bersiong 1963'')
A King and his troops came across a town called Kampung Gading. There, they meet a strong but mute and deaf man named Badang, who is the personal servant of a young woman named Chomel. The King pretended to be a normal guard as part of a plan to lure Badang to become his personal protector and Chomel to become his wife. His plan worked and he married Chomel and Badang left to work for him.
Some time later, the king's appetite changed. At dinner one night, he commends the cook for the delicious dish and asked what the main ingredient was. The cook was forced to reveal that the unusual taste was due to his (the cook's) own blood, which had dropped into the dish when his hand was bleeding. The king deduced that the blood was the ingredient to make all his food delicious and commanded that all his food be cooked in human blood from then on. His taste for blood grew so intense that over time he grew fangs and began attacking his own people to feast on them. When people began dying to satisfy the King's thirst for blood, his subjects revolted and the King was killed by them.
Production
The 1968 production of ''Raja Bersiong'' was filmed at the Malay Film Productions
The Malay Film Productions Ltd., also known as the Shaw Studio, is a former film studio located on Jalan Ampas in Balestier, Singapore. The studio operated from 1947 to 1969 with more than 150 movies produced, and was a major contributor to Sing ...
studio in Singapore and on location in Alor Setar
Alor Setar ( Kedah Malay: ) is the state capital of Kedah, Malaysia. It is the second-largest city in the state after Sungai Petani and one of the most-important cities on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia. It is home to the third-tallest ...
, Malaysia. It was filmed in colour wide-screen CinemaScope, the first for a Malay film. In order to handle the technical aspects of the filming, a Japanese crew was hired.
References
External links
* https://www.webcitation.org/5knoRJcEf?url=http://www.geocities.com/sunsetstrip/balcony/5275/filem/r/raja_bersiong.html
* {{IMDb title, 0277982
1968 films
Malaysian horror films
Malay-language films
Malay Film Productions films
Historical epic films
Films about cannibalism