KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 13 — The Mat Kilau cinematic universe is expanding with the upcoming release of Pendekar Awang: Darah Indera Gajah.
Following the success of the 2022 historical epic which is currently the highest grossing local film in Malaysia, production house Studio Kembara, is looking to create history again with Pendekar Awang, which is a spinoff and also a prequel to Mat Kilau 2.
In anticipation of its theatrical release on January 11 next year, Studio Kembara premiered the official trailer for Pendekar Awang last night (December 12) along with the official soundtrack for the film sung by singer Faizal Tahir.
Studio Kembara’s head honcho, Abdul Rahman Md Dali said the spinoff was due to them wanting to paint a bigger picture of the Mat Kilau universe which is inspired by true events and the storyline would be too long if they’d stick to just two movies.
“However, only the framework of the film is based on historical facts and the rest is fictionalised.
“We do have a team which has done research on the dates and facts of Pendekar Awang. Since he is the younger brother of Mat Kilau, he also possesses a greatness of his own,” said Abdul Rahman, who's also the film's producer.
Pendekar Awang: Darah Indera Gajah will see actor Fattah Amin continuing his role as Awang and he is joined by other stars such as Heliza Helmi, Fazura, Amir Ahnaf and Nadhir Nasar.
Meanwhile, the director for the spinoff remains a mystery as Abdul Rahman is keeping a close lid on the information.
“I was expecting that question tonight but we’ll just have to wait. We will reveal it during the premiere screening later,” he said.
This is following online reports that the film’s initial director, Areel Abu Bakar was dropped from production earlier in April this year.
Areel told portal MStar that he had completed 90 per cent of the editing for the film before being dropped by Studio Kembara.
However, Abdul Rahman said the decision to drop Areel was made based on the best interest of all parties involved.
“Whatever decision that was made, is in the best interest of Studio Kembara and for the quality of the industry as well as for the audiences.
“Of course we want only the best for this film and at this moment, we don’t want to delve into matters that will lead to controversy,” he said.
Abdul Rahman also said that they tried to arrange a meeting with Areel previously but he did not show up.
He added that they will not be using too many of the previous works done by Areel in the film and the studio will consider putting his name in the end-credits.
Pendekar Awang: Darah Indera Gajah spent around 90 days of shooting which ended in October this year and cost between RM10 million to RM15 million.
This is Studio Kembara’s second film to date after Mat Kilau: Kebangkitan Pahlawan which has garnered RM97 million in total collection.
