Award-winning filmmaker Shanjhey Kumar Perumal is set to bring Singaporean crime thriller novel Moonrise, Sunset to the small screen in 2022
THE man behind gritty, Tamil language film Jagat, has just announced his next major project, a drama adaptation of one of Singapore's most iconic murder-mystery novels.
Award-winning Shanjhey Kumar Perumal, whose critically-acclaimed Jagat won Best Film and Best Director awards at the 28th Malaysian Film Festival in 2016 will be co-directing Moonrise, Sunset, a four-episode thriller set in the 1990s Singapore.
It tells the story of a young Chinese-Indian man who wakes up next to his murdered fiancee and has to prove his innocence by uncovering the secrets left behind by his mysterious lover.
Moonrise, Sunset is Shanjhey's first collaboration with global media firm, 108 Media, and the company is also adapting two other Singaporean best-selling novel series into dramas — The Art Of Charlie Chan Hock Chye and Marina Bay Sins.
Filming on all three drama series will begin next year and they are set for release in 2022.
Shanjhey says Moonrise, Sunset is a 1996 novel written by the late Gopal Baratham, known affectionately as Singapore's D. H. Lawrence.
"All works will be executive-produced by 108 Media's Abhi Rastogi and Justin Deimen," says Shanjhey who will co-direct Moonrise, Sunset with popular Singaporean director K. Rajagopal of A Yellow Bird fame.
MULTI-ETHNIC TAPESTRY
Shanjhey adds: "I'm very happy to be part of the project. I have always wanted to make neo-realist crime films with the backdrop of Southeast Asian countries' multicultural and multi-ethnic tapestry.
"Justin called me a few months ago and asked me if I wished to join this project. I have been neglecting television series for some time since I wanted to focus on feature-length films.
"I immediately said yes as I trust his vision and taste. He is a producer, whose vision is to tell Asian stories to the world using diverse talents in front of and behind the camera.
"What I love most about the novel is the grey tone of it, be it the subject, characters or subtext. The characters are detailed and complex, there is a depth in the writing, and I love the 1990s setting."
Shanjhey has been developing two new film scripts with a dark tone, with the backdrop of Southeast Asian culture.
On his first collaboration with Rajagopal, he says: "I have heard of Rajagopal and watched A Yellow Bird in the Five Flavours Film Festival of Poland.
"I like his neo-realism style and his voice, which represents minorities, while showing the other side of Singapore.
"It is very rare for a Tamil Singaporean filmmaker to make such cutting-edge films. I met him online once and we both share a similar vision.
"I am eager to learn from him and vice-versa. We will be directing two episodes each."
SPATE OF KILLINGS
Describing Moonrise, Sunset's plot as shocking and intriguing, Shanjhey says it focuses on a man named How Kum Menon, who fights to clear his name after being named the prime suspect in his fiancee's sudden death.
"After a night of love under the stars at Singapore's East Coast Park with his fiancee, Menon finds that she is dead and he is the prime suspect in the case.
"And next comes a spate of killings. More than the plots, I like the idea of identity, race, power, justice and love all intertwined in a murder-mystery," says Shanjhey, adding that the story is still relevant today.
Shanjhey says he has little knowledge of Singapore actors and actresses, but is aware of its rich, independent film scene.
"I have heard about directors like Eric Khoo, Royston Tan, Yeo Siew Hwa, Boo Junfeng, Anthony Chen and Kristen Tan. Thanks to film festivals, I have been able to watch their films.
"It is a shame that while we have access to Hollywood movies, Southeast Asian ones are hard to come by. But thanks to the Internet we can now do so, and I began watching Singapore films a month ago."
Moonrise, Sunset is set before the 1997 recession, the time when Singapore was waiting to become the next major economy of the Far East.
"We may be behind Singapore in terms of economic growth, but the change in values is something that is common which we can relate to.
"Both our countries have sacrificed the past and human character to chase after modernity. We can easily relate to that time, the time before technology took away our attention and mindfulness," says Shanjhey.
CAMBODIAN ADAPTATION
Shanjhey hopes more works of Malaysian writers can be made into good dramas, telemovies and films.
"It's sad that progress in this area has been rather slow. And not many of us know that some of our novels have been adapted into foreign films.
"For instance, Cambodian director Rithy Panh adapted the late Datuk Shahnon Ahmad's Ranjau Sepanjang Jalan into a Khmer language film back in 1994."
The director has an exciting project in the works, something to do with adapting Malaysian novels into film.
However, he will only reveal the details of his project "at the right time".
"In the past five years while making Jagat, I have been offered four feature films in Malay, three television series (one in Tamil, two in Malay) and four advertisements, but I had to say no to them since I did not feel connected to the subject matter and there was a lack of sharing of intellectual property.
"I took some time to soul-search and came up with 15 film ideas and I have already developed three film scripts. I will announce the first of these film projects next year."
CINEMATIC INSTINCT
Rastogi, chief executive officer of 108 Media, says: "As an international media company in Asia, it is our mission to invest in the vision of creators, whether in Singapore or in other emerging markets.
"We specialise in taking local ideas global, and to bring the world into Asia. In the case of The Art Of Charlie Chan Hock Chye, Marina Bay Sins, and Moonrise, Sunset, the teams are already hard at work, and it will only be a matter of time before they are viewed on screens everywhere."
President of 108 Media, Deimen, says: "As a Singaporean who has devoured all manner of local fare since young, I'm bursting with pride to be able to adapt the work of some of our country's absolute best writers. I'm looking forward to showcase how global our local creative scene is."
He says Shanjhey is the right man to direct Moonrise, Sunset.
"Shanjhey has shown a fantastic cinematic instinct in Jagat, he also presented a very humanistic side to himself as a filmmaker. I'm sure there were many who wanted to fit him into different projects after the success of his debut film, but they probably did not take into account his sensibilities as a storyteller who wants to make an impact in the world around him. We see this series as a great vehicle for his artistic ambitions."
Moonrise, Sunset is co-produced by Singapore's Aurora Global Media Capital and the producers plan to have it screened on global digital platforms.
It is written by Naman Ramachandran, who penned Netflix's film Brahman Naman.
Veteran actress Neo Swee Lin of Phua Chu Kang fame, veteran actor Lim Kay Siu, and popular film, television and theatre actress Rebekah Sangeetha Dorai are tipped to star in Moonrise, Sunset.
The Art Of Charlie Chan Hock Chye created by Sonny Liew is being produced as a six-part half-hour animation series. With a script by Jow Zhi Wei, Jerrold Chong, Shelby Goh, and Roshan Singh, it is a mock-biography of Charlie, a fictional cartoonist, through his life during the early pre-independent days of Singapore to its present.
The Marina Bay Sins series of books is being adapted for an eight-hour co-production called Low set in Singapore and London. With a script by Paris Zarcilla, the series is about Inspector Low who takes on sadistic serial killers while battling his own personal demons.