Action star Hairul Azreen flexes his comedy muscles in 'Pasal Kau'

Hairul Azreen and Janna Nick headline the cast of 'Pasal Kau'. Photo: Netflix

It was while director Adrian Teh and actor Hairul Azreen were on a plane from Kuala Lumpur to Jakarta late last year to attend the premiere of Wira in Indonesia, that Teh heard the pitch from Hairul that became the basis of their new film Pasal Kau.

Hairul, who had worked at a hotel before his career as a stuntman and then later as an actor took off, said he recalled his time as a hotel staff to Teh and some of the shenanigans that happened while working there.

Teh told StarLifestyle: “I found the premise Hairul had in mind quite interesting, so I decided to develop it. I got a screenwriter to do the script and ended up directing it. We managed to wrap production 48 hours before movement control order was put in place; we were pretty lucky.”

The Netflix comedy Pasal Kau stars Hairul as Aiman, a hotel employee who gets caught in the middle of a workplace romance as well as a kidnapping attempt.

Hairul shared with StarLifestyle: “It was surreal. Sometimes, while filming a certain scene, I would end up reminiscing the time I worked at a hotel... a time when I was really struggling to make ends meet, a time when my car was repossessed.”

Adrian Teh asked actor Hairul Azreen to put on some weight for the role. Photo: Azlina Abdullah/The Star

Other than Hairul, Teh recruited most of the actors from Paskal and Wira to make up the rest of Pasal Kau’s cast members. They include Fify Azmi, Henley Hii, Taufiq Hanafi, Theebaan G, Namron and Hafizul Kamal with special appearances from Indonesian actors Yayan Ruhian and Isme Melinda. The one new face in the main cast is Janna Nick.

“It’s a fun thing to do, ” mentioned Teh on why he chose to cast actors from his two previous films.

He explained: “As this is a comedy, I thought it’d be interesting to tweak their characters and storylines and make them complete opposites from who they played in either Paskal or Wira.

“So, arch rivals become best buddies, the macho commander is now a feminine man. It’s like a linear timeline but a different world.”

While Pasal Kau has nothing to do with Paskal and Wira, there are some references made to both these films in the comedy.

Nonetheless, Teh assured that although he included a number of inside jokes in the movie, they are only there as further enjoyment for those who have watched those two films.

“it doesn’t matter if you haven’t seen Paskal or Wira, because Pasal Kau is a standalone movie, ” insisted Teh.

What also sets Pasal Kau apart – well, other than the genre – is that Hairul is a little chubby in the film.

According to the actor, Teh asked him to put on some weight for the role.

And that was exactly what Hairul did; in three months he managed to put on 5kg from eating a lot and not exercising at all.

“That’s the most I could put on within the time frame that I had, ” said Hairul, 32.

When we asked Teh why it was important for Hairul to play a physically big guy, the director replied: “It’s always good for an actor to change his look.

“Also for Paskal and Wira, I always demanded him to be lean and fit, to be physically convincing because he was playing a commander and a fighter.

“This time around, because he’s just playing an ordinary guy in the hotel – of course, he doesn’t have to be particularly big to play the role, but I think it’s good if he changed his appearance – so, I actually forced him to eat more and I told him to stop working out.”