KUALA LUMPUR: Award-winning filmmaker Dain Said has mixed feelings about Dukun finally being screened in cinemas on Thursday after being stuck in limbo since its completion in 2007.
“If there’s any regret that it hadn’t come out or any happiness that it will finally be out, it would be for the actors who are in it. I’m glad that people will now get to see their performances. The actors are brilliant in it,” he said of the Malay horror drama which he directed.
He said this is an interview with the New Straits Times today.
It was certainly a long wait but the director had already found acclaim with his other movies Bunohan (2012) and Interchange (2016).
He added: “I’ve moved on. It’s like an ex-girlfriend, you don’t dwell on it, you move on with your life. I’ve made other films and they were done through my own production company. For Dukun, I was just a hired gun, so I don’t have much ownership over it.”
Dukun was inspired by the sensational and macabre case of real-life pop singer and witch doctor Mona Fandey, who was convicted of a gruesome murder in 1993 and executed by hanging in 2001.
Mostly forgotten, the unreleased film returned to the public consciousness last month when it was reported to have been leaked online.
In a surprising move, the film’s production company, Astro Shaw, had posted on Sunday, on its various social media platforms that Dukun would officially premiere on April 5.
Astro Shaw's synopsis for the film reads: "It’s a tale about the lure of riches, power, eternal youth, beauty and the blood one must spill to achieve this. Dukun centres on a conflicted lawyer, Karim, who is searching for his lost child, Nadia. His desperation leads him to be entangled with an alleged murderer, Diana Dahlan, who links the disappearance of Nadia to darker secrets that could cause Karim to lose everything."
In a news report on Monday, its titular femme fatale, played by actress Datin Paduka Umie Aida, said that the 12-year wait was worth it even though most had already given up hope on it ever being screened in cinemas.
“I was informed that the film would be screened about a week ago. I honestly didn’t expect that,” she said.
Umie added that she felt a little nervous about the long wait and the building anticipation that the public would have since it will now be screened.
She said: “I wholeheartedly accept whatever comments and feedback that the public have to offer after watching it.”
Contrary to popular belief, Dukun was never banned by the Film Censorship Board (LPF). In a recent report, LPF chairman Mohd Zamberi Abdul Aziz said that Dukun had already been approved way back then by the board on Dec 2006.
“The film was referred again to the board for a review to be classified prior to its upcoming public screening. Its classification was finalised on March 8 and its trailer was given the green light to air on March 23,” he said.
Zamberi added that five scenes from the film, that contained elements of violence and “khurafat” (absurd beliefs and superstition), were snipped.
“After the review by the panel, only five scenes were cut out but this will not affect the flow of the story in any way,” he said.
The film has been classified with a PG13 rating which requires audience members under the age of 13 to be accompanied by a parent or guardian in the cinema.
It was rumoured that the controversial nature of the movie, based on real events, had drawn protests from the families of those involved in the actual case which had eventually led to it being shelved indefinitely.
Dukun also stars Faizal Hussein, Bront Palarae, Namron, Elyana, Hasnul Rahmat, Soffi Jikan, Adlin Aman Ramli and Chew Kin Wah.