Talentime Malay English Movie 2009
Cast And Crew
Star Cast: Mahesh Jugal Kishor, Pamela Chong, Jaclyn Victor, Howard Hon Kahoe, Mohd Shafie Naswip, Mislina Mustafa, Harith Iskander, Sukania Venugopal, Elza Irdalyna, Amylia Thipura, Tan Mei Ling
Director: Yasmin Ahmad
Writer: Yasmin Ahmad
Country: Malaysia
Language: Malay Tamil English
Genre: Drama
RunTime: 2 hrs
Released By: Cathay-Keris Films and Lighthouse Pictures
Rating: PG (Some Coarse language)
Opening Day: 22 October 2009
Synopsis:
A talent search competition has matched two hearts - that of Melur, a Malay-mixed girl and an Indian male student, Mahesh. Melur, with her melodious voice, singing whilst playing the piano is one of the seven finalists of the Talentime competition of her school organised by Cikgu Adibah. Likewise Hafiz, enthralling with his vocalist talent while playing the guitar, dividing his time between school and mother, who is hospitalised for brain tumor.
Watch online Movie Trailer free Talentime Malaysian English Indian film.The film Directed by Yasmin Ahmad
It all started after Mahesh, amongst the students assigned to get the finalists to school for practice, delivered the notice of successful audition to Melur's house. His handsome looks attracted the girl. Early on of their relationship, tragedy struck Mahesh's family when his uncle Ganesh who had been the care-taker of the family since the loss of Mahesh's father, was stabbed to death on his wedding day. Melur thinking that Mahesh's silence was due to his grief over the tragedy became furious when she was continuously ignored. She regretted it however after Hafez revealed Mahesh's situation.
That changed Melur's perception of Mahesh. Likewise Mahesh, who grew comfortable with the presence of the girl who often quotes beautiful poetry. Mahesh, realizing that the relationship will be opposed, kept it hidden from his mother,still grieving over the death of Ganesh. Alas, the secret was exposed and Mahesh was assaulted before Melur's very eyes. Just a day before the competition, is Melur resilient enough to sing the poetic lyrics of her song when her heart is tormented by the thoughts of Mahesh? What about Mahesh who has found his first love? On Talentime night, everything unfolds.
Talentime Movie Review
It's a simple equation. One pair of supporting parents, the mother beautiful and slim and the father ruggedly handsome and chubby. Add in a very cool maid. Plus a daughter or two who would inevitably fall in love with a guy from another race. Oh, and make them all speak quite good English. Then you’d have a Yasmin Ahmad movie.
Admittedly, I did not really know of her until after Sepet took off. Even then, I did not really bother getting caught up with the hype. But I took a chance going to see Gubra with some friends and I fell in love with her work.
Gubra was real. Like the hospital scene where you saw the buttocks of one of the patients. It’s real. Just like the dialogue and the situations in the movie.
So I waited for her next movie. Mukhsin. Again. She blew me away with its raw honesty. Her movies are not totally complicated. The story’s simple and easy to grasp. But she crafted each and every frame beautifully that the movies are transformed into works of art.
After Mukhsin, came Muallaf, and I was salivating, waiting for its release but it was never released in Malaysia. Lucky foreign people…
Then I got wind of Talentime and obviously I have to watch it at any cost. And when an invite was issued to the radio, I jumped on the chance to go and cover the preview at Cineleisure.
And I got to meet Yasmin the genius herself before the movie was shown. I was practically buzzing coz somehow deep inside I knew the movie would be simple and realistic but deeply beautiful and touching.
From the beginning, it was quite the visual treat. It was funny in the most inappropriate places. It was serious as the issues were touched are often quite taboo or sensitive.
Talentime, while a trademark tearjerker of Yasmin Ahmad’s, fails to show how the chemistry between its two main leads develops. While it is clear that the two are deeply in love after some point in the film, as well as undergoing some protest by one of their parents, it is not revealed why the wealthy Melur who obviously has social connections would so suddenly fall for a boy she has just met, having shared perhaps only very little time together. The film, of course, is to be lauded for its realistic and humanistic portrayal of the multicultural interactions in Malaysia, as it extends dimension to characters otherwise stereotypically defined in Cerekarama films.
The actors playing Melur, Mahesh, and Hafiz give a grounded performance worthy of a title such as ‘Talentime’. While it is not known if the actors really do converse in sign language, their fluency in it is admirable. Once again the parents’ flirtatiousness towards each other is displayed. What is truly touching is not the romance of the two main fledglings but the almost innocent banter between Azean Irdawaty and Jit Murad, as Azean’s character lies dying, visited by Jit’s charismatic stranger.
Adibah Amin splendidly plays a "Wassup" spewing headteacher, who interestingly views the oft-touted "deklamasi sajak" routines as lame and "memang pedih pun," referring to a line from the sajak.
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