KUALA LUMPUR: One Two Jaga director Shahili Abdan or Nam Ron says his latest film which depicts corrupt police officers is not “anti-police”.
He said that the film in which he plays a corrupt businessman who bribes corrupt law enforcers merely talks about bribe-taking officials in the Klang Valley.
Such officials, he added, had been highlighted by the mainstream media for the last three decades.
“It’s an anti-graft film, not an anti-police film. It does not target any individual in the police force.
“It merely states what all of us know full well, that there are bribe-takers amongst the police who extort money from the rakyat,” he said in a news report yesterday.
Nam Ron added that corrupt officials existed in every country, including developed countries.
Hollywood, he said, had its fair share of anti-graft films such as Serpico in 1973 which starred Al Pacino and LA Confidential in 1997 which starred Russell Crowe.
“If we look carefully at One Two Jaga, it is all about upright police officers who dare to expose the corruption of their colleagues.
“At the end of the day, all of the bribe-taking police officers face the music,” he said.
Nam Ron was responding to several calls on social media to boycott One Two Jaga, because it allegedly depicted Malaysian police as corrupt.
“The police cooperated fully with us in the making of the film. Thus, it cannot be anti-police!”
When asked about his recent joke about “making blue films”, Nam Ron said it was his light-hearted way of alerting Netizens to watch One Two Jaga in cinemas.
“Looks like it worked, and viewers are increasingly heading to the nearest cinemas,” he said.
Last Friday, Nam Ron lamented that hardly anyone turned up in cinemas when One Two Jaga began screening.
He jestfully tweeted that he “might as well make blue films” since intelligent stories do not appeal to viewers.
One Two Jaga focuses on a courageous police officer Hussein (Zahiril Adzim) who expose his corrupt superiors.
It is also about Indonesian workers who face a lot of hardship as a result of bribe-taking by the authorities.
The film which opened last Thursday also stars Bront Palarae, Chew Kin Wah, Amerul Affendi and Indonesian actors Ario Bayu and Asmara Abigail.
It was nominated for Best Feature Film at the 17th Asian Film Festival in New York (NYAFF) on June 29.
Last April, the film was screened at the 20th Far East Film Festival in Udine, Italy.