Thursday, August 2, 2012

Hantu Bonceng


Released date: 31 August 2011
Language: Malay
Running time: 90minutes
Produced: Excellent Pictures Sdn Bhd
Director: Ahmad Idham Ahmad Nadzi
Cast: Zizan Razak, Juliana Evans, Taiyuddin Bakar and Jue Aziz ,Eizlan Yusoff, Dottie and Cat Farish.

The film starts with Amran (Zizan Razak) won an illegal race and gets Maya (Juliana Evans) as his reward; however they were involved in an accident which kills Maya. Thus, the incident leaves Maya’s soul to be restless and haunts Amran every night as she needs a proper burial because of her body has not been claimed. Amran seeks the help of his best friend Kunyit (Taiyuddin Bakar) to help him to solve his problem.  They search for the help of a healer (Eizlan Yusoff) and a religious scholar (Cat Farish) to find a solution for the ghost to stop haunting Amran. Apparently, Maya has a twin sister name Ayu and this is where it all starts to get complicated.
This film is a straight forward movie which I would say relax and stress free film. It is purely for entertainment basis and to make people laugh. Besides that, this film does include a few moral values in the society as well as the issues that are revolving in the society.  For instance, issues about the illegal racing among the teenagers nowadays which we have not found the solution so far. The movie tries to send the message by showing the danger of illegal racing. Moreover, it also shows how people still believe in superstition when Amrans’ seek the help of a healer rather than a religious scholar which is more appropriate accordance to Islamic law to find a solution about the ghost. The film also teaches us the importance of friendship as well as love. This can be seen in Kunyit and Halimaton (Jue Aziz) character where they will try their best to save Amran.
As the film brings out their comedy very well, they are lacking in terms of horror element which leaves the ghost appearance as the scariest part in the film. At some point it becomes unreal when the ghost appears in a t-shirt during the scene at the mortuary. Besides that, it is quiet a hard for a comedian like Cat Farish to be taken seriously as he plays the role of a religious scholar in the movie which is different from his previous works. This film has a weak and unclear ending though it is not obvious as the film shows adequate amount of positive values as well as the comedy element in it. Thus, “Hantu Bonceng” is a must watch movie for comedy fans, indirectly supporting our local industry.

Breaking The Barrier

Have you ever wonder how life would be for you if you are armless? Meet Zhariff Afandi an extraordinary person who has achieved so many things despite being armless. Zhariff Afandi, a psychology graduate from Griffith University, Australia who also took Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Sociology in KDU College has been involved in so many humanitarian aid and charity work. He has become such an inspirational person as well as a public figure at such an early age. Zhariff  organized a volunteering programme when Acheh was hit by tsunami in 2004 and he also organized The Burma Blaster Sound in 2007 to raise funds as Burma was hit by the Cyclone Nagris.
Zhariff Afandi, the founder of The Zhariff Initiative (TZI) has organized a series of programme called “Breaking The Barrier” tour. This event took place in KDU University College, Damansara Jaya main campus on the 24th April 2012. TZI initiated this programme to reach out to the youths to open up their mind to the vast possibilities in life. According to Zhariff, what encouraged him to organize this tour is that he always wanted to inspire people especially students to not be afraid in starting something out of their passion. 

“I felt angry and  frustrated when people feel that they are worthless or hopeless. The fact that we, as human beings  decide to choose on being limited in our own beliefs. What frustrates me more is when people are not willing to explore solutions and things that they can,” said Zhariff Afandi.


Zhariff Afandi

Being armless does not stop Zhariff from doing adventurous activities such horse riding, deep caving, body boarding and others, instead he uses his limitations to explore himself and go beyond the possibilities.  Besides sharing session between Zhariff and the students, he invited a few of his celebrity friends to share their stories on how they break their barrier to achieve their dream, such as Altimet, Liyana Fizi, Karmal and Eddy Lim.
Moreover, there were also other activities such as graffiti demonstration by THEY Graffiti artiste, flash mob performance by students of School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culinary Arts as well as Post Secret Malaysia and One Million Happy Faces also did a campaign in KDU University College. Altimet and Karmal performed a few songs to liven up the event.  Zhariff hopes that from this tour youths will understand the meaning of breaking the barrier and take action about it so that they will experience and see how far they can accomplish.


Students of KDU University College