Chronicles Of The KRU Brothers

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Can`t get a copy of the ancient Malay fable Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa on which The Chronicles is based on? Then you have to wait for KRU Studios to release the movie.

The plot is about Merong Mahawangsa during the time of the Roman emperor Hadrian. He is the man with the big job of escorting a Roman prince to China where he is to marry a Han Dynasty princess. This is KRU Studios` most ambitious film project to date. The Abdul Halim brothers, Norman, Yusry and Edry, have shown their mettle in earlier movies and might pull off another box office winner.

The brothers, who had spent a few years in London, revolutionised the Malaysian music scene with their unique blend of pop, R&B and hip hop in the 90s. Their band, KRU, is an acronym for Kumpulan Rap Unik (unique rap group) which is also the Malay spelling of the word “crew”.

The Chronicles of Merong Mahawangsa, directed by Yusry, can be described as the local version of Hollywood`s The Chronicles of Narnia. While the KRU movie has a budget of RM8 million, the Hollywood studio that made The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe spent more than US$70 million (RM248 million). The budget restriction, however, is not hindering the drive of the Abdul Halim brothers` latest attempt at going beyond Malaysian cinemas.

Some 80 per cent of the film`s dialogue will be in English. Shooting for the film is under way in Kuala Lumpur, Kuantan and Terengganu. British-born Stephen Rahman-Hughes is cast as the title character. Rahman-Hughes is famous for his role as Hang Tuah in Puteri Gunung Ledang The Musical. He had appeared in several theatre productions, including Andrew Lloyd-Webber`s Bombay Dreams as well as in the Hollywood film Bad Girls.

The epic also features British-based actors Jing Lu and Gavin Stenhouse and Swedish actor Henrik Norman. Among the Malaysians in the movie are Khir Rahman, Datuk Rahim Razali, Nell Ng, Jehan Miskin, Vanidah Imran and Mano Maniam.

This is Yusry`s third directorial effort after the successful superhero movie Cicakman and its sequel Cicakman 2: Planet Hitam. Yet, can this local production of an international movie succeed where other similar projects had failed?

There is no doubt that The Chronicles of Merong Mahawangsa will be a visual effects feast but can it attract the local movie-goers? No locally-made English-language film has managed to attract Malaysian cinema-goers. Among the well-known films are Spinning Gasing, The Red Kebaya and more recently Sell Out.

The lukewarm response to local English-language films could be attributed to the fact that there are two groups of cinema-goers in Malaysia. The first comprises Malaysians who watch Hollywood movies, the majority of them are non-Malays who do not watch local movies. The second group is made up of Malaysians who watch local movies who are not fluent in English and they don`t watch movies that have more than 30 per cent of the dialogue in English.

This is believed to be the reason why good films like Gol & Gincu, Sepet and Talentime did not do as well as Syurga Cinta. KRU Studio`s major challenge will be to figure out a way to get both groups to watch the film.

Source: http://www.nst.com.my (27 June 2009)
Photo:  http://vanillasky8.blogspot.com

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