Singer Santesh Kumar, who kept Malaysians in stitches during the stressful days of MCO 1.0 last year, is back in action with more short videos using Tamil movie footage with hilarious Bahasa Malaysia subtitles.
Santesh, who has a huge Malay following besides his Indian fan base, first shot to fame with the Malay love song Amalina, which chalked up more than 35 million views in two years.
His other music video titled Mymuna has nearly seven million.
But his MCO 1.0 venture was of a different kind, one that saw Malaysians of all races enjoying his short clips that went viral on social media during the lockdown.
He decided to do something different as he knew how most Malaysians enjoy slapstick comedy using street Bahasa Malaysia.
So, the 35-year-old artiste carefully selected footage from Tamil movie comedies, and inserted scripts or lyrics that depicted current issues in street Malay, a move he said has endeared himself to his Malay fans.
His latest video clip involving a short song excerpt from a scene featuring the late Tamil actor Shivaji Ganesan, soared, garnering over one million views within days.
“Being a Malaysian artiste, I know Bahasa Malaysia is vital in whatever I do. The video clip is a subtle way of making people look at Tamil culture using the Malay language, and it reaches their hearts.
“It was such a joy to see Malays laughing their hearts out at my clips,” he told FMT.
Asked how he chooses the correct scenes and makes the lip-synching look so real despite the different languages, Santesh admitted that it was hard work but vital as it can put people off if done badly.
“My wife and I choose from the thousands of movies on YouTube. First, the actors must be popular, for example Shivaji is a household name not only among Indians but also older Malay folks.
“And the comedian Vadivelu’s slapstick comedy is a great draw among Indians and Malays too,” he said.
Then comes the job of getting the lip-syncing right. Santesh said after carefully studying the lip movements of the actor, he chooses lyrics in Bahasa Malaysia which have the same end pronunciations so that the lip-syncing is perfect.
This is a tedious process, he admitted, explaining that this is why producing just one complete video clip can take anywhere from five to eight hours.
However, he said it was all worth it as seeing his video clips turned into TikTok versions that have gone viral, was heartening.
“Looking at the responses from Malaysians of all walks of life gives me the utmost satisfaction. Because I know the video clips help relieve so much stress.
“That is why they have named me ‘Stress Buster’. And I humbly accept the moniker,” he said.
He has one piece of sound advice for Malaysians during MCO 3:0 – just stay home for the next two weeks, wait for his new clips then sit back and enjoy them.
“I must thank all my fans for accepting my brand of humour which cuts across all races. I come from a poor estate family and my acceptance by all Malaysians is very humbling.”
With nearly 500,000 followers on his Facebook channel, this talented man from Golconda Estate in Klang is all set to see that number grow bigger.