In an interview with online magazine Connected to India (CtoI), published yesterday, Shanjhey Kumar Perumal said many people did not seem to grasp the producers’ vision of creating a local industry to represent the community’s voice while being marketable to the rest of the world.
“I was quite upset and felt let down that the local Indian community wasn’t very enthusiastic about the movie,” he said.
“Later I came to realise that Jagat was a little too raw and blunt for them,” he said of the movie which tells a story about poverty and social problems revolving around estate workers forced to relocate and become squatters in the city in 1991.
“The average Joe has been lulled with too many feel-good movies of escapism while Jagat puts a dark and painful part of our history, a part that many are trying to forget, under the spotlight.
“I expect it will take time for the Malaysian Indian cinema industry to adapt to the changing times,” he added.
Jagat will be featured at the Asean India Cinefest in Marina Bay Sands, Singapore, on Jan 7.
It won the best Malaysian film award at the 28th Malaysia Film Festival (MFF) in September 2016, with Shanjhey bagging the award for best new director.
It also represented Malaysia at the SAC Asean Film Festival in Bangkok in August this year.
Shanjhey, however, said the movie may have been an eye-opener for audiences in India, as non-resident Indians (NRIs) were usually portrayed as rich people who worshipped western culture and were ignorant of Indian traditions.
“We want them to know that we have our own unique dilemmas, problems and aspirations that are worthy of being shared with a global audience,” he said.
Shanjhey also said the film producers found it very hard to get it licensed for broadcast on television channels in Singapore and Tamil Nadu.
In fact, he had initially made numerous attempts to have the film made by local Malaysian television channels but was rejected every time, he said.
He said he was given excuses that the film was “too dark” and “it isn’t an accurate representation of what actually happened”.
“Well, you can only hide the truth for so long. Even though it took 10 long years, I’m glad I was finally able to make this dream come true,” he said.
“Jagat is also very much my own personal revenge on an imperfect and deeply flawed system,” he added.
The movie became a reality after it was produced by A Anandan, Myskills Foundation, Skyzen Studios and Mageswari Anandan.