Daulat (English: Long Live) is a 2020 Malaysian Malay-language political thriller film written and directed by Imran Sheik. It tells the story of a politician (Vanidah Imran) and her party plotting a feisty political comeback after having just lost the last election, ready to do whatever it takes to win.

Daulat
Directed byImran Sheik
Written byHaziq Jamaludin
Imran Sheik
Produced bySiti Marzuliana Marzuki
StarringVanida Imran
Rashidi Ishak
Tony Eusoff
Jasmine Suraya Chin
Cristina Suzanne Stockstill
Zul Zamir
CinematographyNurhanisham Muhammad
Edited byJohan Bahar
Production
company
Lacuna Pictures
Release date
  • 6 April 2020 (2020-04-06) (online)
Running time
101 minutes
CountryMalaysia
LanguagesMalay
English

It was released on 6 April 2020 online on Iflix.[1][2][3][4]

Synopsis

edit

The ruling political party MUNA has lost in the recent general election. Hassan, the party's president employs Suri, a rising female politician as the party's new deputy president. Suri decides to go all out to make sure that the party wins in the next general election, at all costs. Willing to pay any price, she and the team initiates an elaborate plan to attain power.

As part of her cunning strategy, Suri plots with her husband, Idrus and takes advantage of his position and power as the CEO of a national news company to create slander and propaganda against the rival party. A young journalist, Jasmin is involved as she becomes responsible for spreading this news. Jasmin feels obligated to play her part as she owes Idrus for her father’s life which later turns into a love affair. What happens next?[5]

Cast

edit
  • Vanida Imran, as Suri
    Deputy president of opposition party MUNA; wife of Idrus.
  • Rashidi Ishak, as Idrus
    CEO of media company Media Raya; husband of Suri.
  • Tony Eusoff, as Hassan
    President of opposition party MUNA
  • Cristina Suzanne Stockstill, as Nadiya Hassan
    COO of Media Raya; daughter of Hassan.
  • Jasmine Suraya Chin, as Jasmin Cho
    A journalist at Media Raya
  • Zul Zamir, as Ali Fahim
    Deputy prime minister from ruling party WAWASAN
  • Jalaluddin Hassan, as Malik
    Prime minister from WAWASAN
  • Sangeeta Krishnasamy, as Melissa
    A liberal politician
  • Amar Asyraf, as Saiful
    President of party Hizbul Muslimin
  • Dain Iskandar Said, as Political analysts

Release

edit

The film is fictional and was made in 2019 before the event of 2020 Malaysian political crisis. It is filmed in 14 days with a budget of RM500,000.

The film is released online for free and uncensored, on 6 April 2020 exclusively for Iflix after a series of private screenings with industry experts and close enthusiastic cineastes. The production team originally opted for a theatrical release, but decided to distribute in streaming service to avoid cuts by the Film Censorship Board of Malaysia.

References

edit
  1. ^ "Daulat, Malaysia's own House of Cards". The Malaysian Insight.
  2. ^ "No problem acting with ex-husband, says Vanidah". New Straits Times. 26 August 2019.
  3. ^ "Jasmine Suraya bakal bintangi filem Daulat". Cinema.com.my (in Malay).
  4. ^ "Daulat: the art of being cunning". The Sun.
  5. ^ "Trailer for Daulat". Youtube.
edit