Malaysian Tamil film Metro Maalai wins international award in Norway

KUALA LUMPUR: Tamil film Metro Maalai, the brainchild of directors Haran Kaveri and Shobaan Pillay Nagarajan, has done the country proud by winning Best Social Film in the Norway Tamil Film Festival 2020.

Screened in 2019, Metro Maalai won the award in May last year, and was subsequently screened at the Luang Prabang Film Festival 2020 in Laos on Dec 14 last year.

It was also screened on international streaming channels Amazon Prime and Mubi last year.

"It is our first feature film, and prior to this we did music videos and short films," said Haran in a news report today.

"But we felt that it was time that we do something bigger for fellow film enthusiasts and Metro Maalai was the end result."

Haran, a film graduate from the National Arts, Culture and Heritage Academy (Aswara) said that they thought of Metro Maalai shortly after completing a short film Thedal in 2017.

"We've previously worked on film sets, as lighting editors, cinematographers and assistant directors."

Haran said that their biggest challenge was to please their producers and viewers.

"As a result it took us about a year to get the job done, and filming took three weeks.

"We shot it with a budget of RM150,000 around Kuala Lumpur, Port Dickson and Karak in Bentong, Pahang."

Haran also said that Malaysian Indian moviegoers often watched Kollywood (Indian Tamil) films, not local ones.

"That's why we chose to have our film go global by entering international film festivals and awards. Once it gets the acceptance from the global Tamil community, it will attract Malaysian moviegoers and set a benchmark for local films."

Haran said that the Malaysian Tamil film industry had been growing steadily since 1991 when the first local Tamil film Naan Oru Malaysia was produced by Berjaya Film Productions.

"After three decades, we feel that it is time for Malaysian Tamil films to tell Malaysian stories to audiences around the world."

Metro Maalai is a heartwarming story about a struggling young guitarist who lives in the heart of Kuala Lumpur. It stars Satish Kumar and Punitah Shanmugam.

Source: https://www.nst.com.my/