Malaysia's first Punjabi film is a comedy with local touch

Finally, the very first Malaysian Punjabi film, “Mundey Kampung Dey”, is all set to release in local cinemas on Dec 15.

It may undoubtedly be dwarfed by James Cameron’s eagerly awaited “Avatar: The Way Of Water” which opens the same day - but it should hold its own against the giant with the local Punjabi community as well as film lovers who want something that is more salt of the earth.

The film is directed by Mansher Singh, 45, (he also has an acting role in it) and stars Anwaar Beg Moghal, Nipun C, Hemant Shergill and Sanjna Suri.

“Mundey Kampung Dey” is a comedy that revolves around three childhood friends from a backwater village who moved to Kuala Lumpur in search of a better life.

Their plans are cut short when they come across a parcel belonging to someone from the city’s underworld. There is something of great value in the parcel and the lady boss of the criminal organisation will even kill to get it back.

Mansher, who was born in Penang and is now based in Selangor, is a graduate of the School of Audio Engineering (SAE) in 2001 and started his career as a sound engineer who would do recordings for radio and TV.

He has 15 years of experience in the local industry working in various areas such as doing jingles for radio and TV commercials - as well as composing songs for independent artists and local film soundtracks.

“I have worked with the Malay rock band, Lestari; Tamil rappers Vassan, The Villanz, singers KK Khanna, Maney Villanz and many more.

“I also composed original soundtracks for movies such as ‘Apa Tengok-Tengok?’, ‘Maindhan’, ‘Undercover Rascals’ (and its sequel), ‘Ops Kossa Dappa 3’, ‘Malam’, ‘Olli Mr Peyii’ and many more.

“In 2010, I even had the privilege to engineer the first Tamil digital movie ‘Undercover Rascals’ which was produced in 5.1 surround sound,” he told Malaysiakini.

Mansher started working on “Mundey Kampung Dey” in 2011.

“I always wanted to do a Punjabi film with a local flavour. My inspiration was the late P Ramlee. We Punjabis in Malaysia have contributed a lot to our country in various areas.

“So it was time to contribute our talents to films. I see a lot of talent among local Punjabis in Malaysia, but they are not getting the right platform to showcase it.”

He hopes that this film will help bring more Punjabi talent to the forefront.

This film was produced by Mansher and Manjit Maan from Xtreme Studios (M) Sdn. Bhd, with financial assistance from Finas. The total budget for this film is RM600,000.00.

The story about people from a remote place venturing into the big city and getting into all sorts of misadventures has been done before. Mansher said this storyline can differ depending on the way the story is told and its screenplay.

"Firstly, ‘Mundey Kampung Dey’ is the first Malaysian Punjabi film. Secondly, the format has proven to be successful and well-accepted by moviegoers.

“So, I decided to play safe within that storyline and change the screenplay to be more comical and adventurous. Making the first Malaysian Punjabi film is a big risk and challenge for me, and I don’t want the story to ruin all my efforts. It has to be commercially accepted by the general audience,” he stated.

Mansher added that although “Mundey Kampung Dey” looks like a Bollywood film - the language, cast and locations are fresh and new.

The cinematography by C Kumaresan, a prominent actor and director, and background scoring by Thiagu Murugesu have elevated this film to be on par with other international releases.

The village where the three protagonists come from is called Kampung Merdeka.

“It is a truly Malaysian village with multi-racial families staying together. We were supposed to shoot the village scene in Sikh Settlement, Tanjung Tualang, Perak, but because of the movement control order (MCO) due to Covid -19, we decided to shoot the scene in Dengkil as most of the artists are from Klang Valley.

“Some of the aerial shots used in this film are the actual shots from Tanjung Tualang.”

There will be some songs and dances as well in the movie.

“We wanted to have an opening song with 100 dancers in this film. But due to the Covid -19 outbreak, the song sequence had to be removed.

“However, there are four songs in this movie. Indonesian and Indian music arrangers worked on the songs,” said Mansher.

The actors cast for their respective roles all brought something to the table, he added.

Anwaar Beg Moghal (who plays Sukha) is an experienced television actor, Hemant Shergill (Amar) and Nipun Chabra (Jaggi) are real-life comedians and emcees; Ashvinder Singh (Tejpal) is a model with a muscular tattooed body who plays a spoilt brat.

Actress Sharmini Ramesh, who plays the villainous Cobra was described by Mansher as one of the finest actors in Malaysia. “She can transform into any role given, and she did that in this film as the seductive lady boss.”

Mansher himself plays the role of a character called Dragon.

“It was to be done by an international star but due to the MCO, the travel ban was imposed and we were running out of time and had to start shooting for the film.

“Being an actor myself, playing a villain in more than four films (local films Uttratchai Kali, Vikrant and both Undercover Rascals films), I decided to continue the shoot with me as the Dragon,” explained Mansher.

If it wasn’t for the MCO, Bollywood superstar Sanjay Dutt might have been playing the role, he added.

Rounding up the cast is Sanjna Suri a Malaysian model who plays heroine Keeran and veteran Punjabi stage actor Chamkaur Singh plays Malkit Singh.

At present, Mansher and his production company are in talks with distributors from Indonesia, Singapore, India, Europe and Pakistan to screen this film in the theatres there.

This film will be available on major streaming platforms such as Astro First, Netflix, Amazon Prime and PTC Punjabi after it finishes its cinematic run in local cinemas.

It is noted that on April 13, 2020, Punjabi telefilm “Rabba Mereya” was screened on Astro Vaanavil, in conjunction with Vaisakhi Day.

However, “Mundey Kampung Dey” is the first locally made Punjabi film to be screened in cinemas.

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