The film director of ‘Jagat’, Shanjey Kumal Perumal, is perplexed over the different treatment his film had received here as opposed to when it is brought overseas.

In an interview with Astro Awani aired yesterday, Shanjey was asked whether films should be categorised according to languages.

Shanjey, however, is of the opinion that films should not be categorised as such.

“Because when we went to the New York Asian Film Festival, Jagat was called a Malaysian film and when I went to India for a Digital Cinema Package (DCP) process, it’s clear there how they wrote ‘Jagat (Malaysian Film)’.

“But in our homeland, our films are categorised according to languages so I think this is not necessary and I think it is something that is immature,” he said.

'Jagat', as well as fellow local film ‘Ola Bola’ were disqualified from winning the best film category in the Festival Filem Malaysia (FFM) 2016. The disqualification had riled many and local actor Afdlin Shauki announced that he was boycotting the festival.

They two films were not nominated for 'best film' because the dialogue was not fully in Bahasa Malaysia, and were thus nominated for 'Best Non-Bahasa Melayu Film' instead.

Meanwhile, asked on the importance of language, Shanjey said it is merely an element in film which covers other branches of art.

“Novels and radio dramas may not exist without language but films are something unique in that we can still tell a story even without language,” he said.

The director cited ‘Cuckoo’, a Russian film whose three main characters speak in three different languages. Although the characters do not understand one another, the audience somehow understands the storyline, he said.

“And that makes visual media something that is very interesting.

“When we place language as the main component to judge a film, I believe it is a disgrace to visual media,” he added.