‘It’s a major relief’: director of Malaysian comedy Spilt Gravy on Rice on its Netflix debut, and the conclusion of his long battle with censors
- Film adaptation of a Malaysian play tackles homosexuality, sex and drugs, and was rejected by censors. A revised version eventually won screening approval
- The latter hit Malaysian cinemas, and won big at the national film awards, this year; an uncensored version is on Netflix. Its director reflects on his struggle
After a years-long struggle with censors, a film adaptation of Malaysian postmodern dark comedy Spilt Gravy on Rice has debuted on Netflix and won awards at home.
“It’s, of course, a major relief after so many years of feeling like I was on a very slow roller-coaster ride,” Zahim Albakri, the director of Spilt Gravy on Rice (Ke Mana Tumpahnya Kuah in Malay), tells the Post.
His film is an adaptation of the award-winning play of the same name by the late Jit Murad. The play was first staged in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, in August 2002 and played to full houses and critical acclaim in the city and nearby Singapore in 2003.
But for a long time after its completion, the movie adaptation struggled to get screening approval from Malaysia’s Film Censorship Board (Lembaga Penapis Filem, LPF) because of its sharp social commentary.
Set in Kuala Lumpur, the film focuses on a dysfunctional upper middle-class Malaysian family and touches on themes of homosexuality, sexual violence, drug addiction, and other skeletons in the closet of the predominantly Islamic nation.
