PETALING JAYA: Director of Tanda Putera, Datin Paduka Shuhaimi Baba, is urging the public not to let what she termed as “misleading pre-production pictures” skew their opinion about the movie, and more so if they have yet to watch the film.
“I am shocked to find that some of the unedited pictures from our official Facebook page taken before we were filming the movie had gone viral.
“It clearly shows that the critics have not seen the film and are just being cruel to us.
“They are just trying to discredit the movie without even watching it,” she said yesterday.
Shuhaimi was responding to the proliferation of pictures shared on the Internet that panned her movie for allegedly containing scenes that have CCTVs, air conditioners, smoke detectors and modern cars.
On the response towards Tanda Putera so far, Shuhaimi said it has been “chaotic” as some moviegoers were confused whether the movie was banned.
Adding to the confusion was the advisory by the Penang state government to cinemas there not to screen the movie.
However, the Penang government clarified on Thursday that no action would be taken against any cinema there if they decided to screen the movie.
On Friday evening, Penang cinemas finally showed the movie, one and a half days later than the rest of the country.
“Many of my fans and close friends had called as they were under the impression that the movie was banned, and we had to keep explaining to them that they can watch it at all the cinemas,” she said.
Shuhaimi maintained that it was unfair for certain quarters to accuse the movie of trying to create racial tension.
“I did a lot of research from various historical documents and interviews before making the film, and that took almost a year.
“I also visited universities to try to be as accurate as I can with the film,” said Shuhaimi, who also invited Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng for a discussion if he felt that certain scenes in the film could cause racial conflict.
“If he feels that way, I am open for discussions,” she said.
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