Muallaf

Muallaf
	Muallaf Singapore poster
Directed by	Yasmin Ahmad
Produced by	Rosnah Kassim
Starring	Brian Yap; Sharifah Amani; Yeo Yann Yann; Sharifah Aleysha
Distributed by	MHZ Film Sdn. Bhd. (Malaysia); The Picturehouse (Singapore)
Release date	27 November 2008 (Singapore); 24 December 2009 (Malaysia);
Country	Malaysia
Language	English; Malay; Cantonese
Budget	RM 1.3 million
Box office	RM 190,000

Muallaf is a 2008 Malaysian drama film directed by Yasmin Ahmad. It tells a tale of three souls finding solace in religion. This is Yasmin Ahmad's fifth film after Rabun, Sepet, Gubra and Mukhsin.

Cast

Actor/Actress	Character	Notes
Brian Yap	Brian Goh¹	History teacher at Rohana's school
Sharifah Amani	Rohani	Rohana's elder sister, 20/21 y/o
Sharifah Aleysha	Rohana	Rohani's younger sister, 14 y/o
Rahim Razali	Datuk	Rohani and Rohana's abusive father
Ning Baizura	Datin	Rohani and Rohana's stepmother
Tony Savarimuthu	Bro. Anthony	Catholic priest and Principal of Rohana's school
Hazel Fernandez	Mrs Siva	Rohana's Arts teacher
Yeo Yann Yann	Cindy	Rohani's colleague at Sid's Tavern Pub & Cafe
Tan Mei Ling	Mrs Goh	Brian's mother
Ho Yuhang	Datuk's private investigator
Haris Zakaria	Little Brian
Shana Shafiza Muzaffar Shah	Mei Ling	Coma girl

Footnote:

^1 Brian Yap's character was initially planned to be named Robert Ng.

Closure

It was not clear what had happened to Rohana. However, it could be assumed that Rohani had finally met up with Rohana considering that she had volunteered to take care of her stroke-hit father who had snatched away Rohana earlier.
It was not shown explicitly whether Brian was attracted to Rohani or the religion of Islam itself. If Brian was in love with Rohani, this would probably mark the first time Yasmin concealed the romantic relationship in films that contain the agenda of love.

Screening

As Yasmin's previous films, Muallaf opened with the usual Islamic verse "In the name of God, the most Gracious and most Merciful" (Bismillahirahmanirrahim). What set Muallaf apart from her previous works was that the verse was displayed in Chinese in this movie, i.e. "奉大仁大慈真主的尊名" (Pinyin: fèng dà rén dà cí Zhēn Zhǔ de zūn míng). It was understood that the verse would be displayed in Tamil in her next film, Talentime.

As Yasmin's second feature film, Sepet, Muallaf was first screened in Singapore instead of Malaysia, where it was shot. The film ran for 4 weeks in Singapore from 27 November to 24 December 2008, recording turnouts more than that of Sepet. Muallaf was first denied screening in Malaysian cinemas due to the Malaysian censorship authorities request of key scenes to be cut, thus rendering the story meaningless. However, 1 year later, Muallaf finally opened in Malaysia nationwide on 24/12/09 with a few dialogues muted.

International participation

Awards won

21st Tokyo International Film Festival (18 - 26 October 2008) ~ Special Mention Best Asian-Middle Eastern Film
2010 Screen Awards - Best Film & Best Actress in a Leading Role (Sharifah Amani)

Official selection

61st Locarno International Film Festival (6 - 16 August 2008)
13th Pusan International Film Festival (2 - 10 October 2008)
Rialto Film Festival, Amsterdam - New Malaysian Cinema

Reviews and Interviews with Yasmin Ahmad on the film

Singapore

Indonesia

Malaysia

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