POOR LESSON IN PATRIOTISM

INSTILLING patriotic sentiments when Merdeka Day is around the corner is so cliched that the novelty just wears off when you keep doing it year in, year out. But wait, before we go further. Aren't we supposed to be patriotic all the time? It's either we are patriotic or we are not. So, there's no two ways about it.

TV channels have the onus to deliver a bagful of ``Merdeka'' goodies each time we reach the eventful date. TV3 started the ball rolling last week with the screening of Cucu Sarjan Hassan in Panorama: Cerekarama slot last Saturday. (There is another army sergeant by the same name in P. Ramlee's movie Sarjan Hassan.)

It sounds tricky alright when you keep borrowing names from already popular titles. Don't they know that originality sells?

Cucu Sarjan Hassan is about a retired army officer, Hassan, who sets high millitary standards in his life when he is disappointed with his only son, Azman, (Suhaimi Zubir) who pursued his academic goals and became a scholar.

The drama opened with Hassan finding a 12-year-old tomboy, Zulaikha (Alia Iman), who called herself Zul for the kick of it, at his doorstep who later introduced herself as Hassan's cucu (granddaughter).

Strangely, Hassan happily believed Zul. He assumed that Zul is a boy and took her in but not before lashing out that ``this is not a welfare home ...''

I could already detect something contrived about the script after 20 minutes sitting through it.

The beginning of more unbelievable tale came in the unconvincing storyline, poor script and the snail pace.

But it's the way the scriptwriter created the Sarjan Hassan character who behaved more like a silly, arbitrary general than a true, honourable soldier that really amused me.

I stayed tuned to the drama because of two reasons. Firstly, I am a great fan of Abu Bakar Omar, one of the best character actors around.

Secondly, I thought the scriptwriter was going to develop much more interesting plots along the way especially when Hassan kept referring to his son Azman as anak pondan (gay). This really aroused my curiosity to stay tuned, hoping to get a glimpse of Azman's shady life.

Unfortunately, the writer decided to label Azman a softie simply because he is not military-inclined.

One scene was really far-fetched. Picture this: an overzealous retired army Sarjan Hassan showing the ropes to Zul making the booby traps, carrying out the drills and discipline of army life. And all this was done in the wee hours of the morning in the woods near the house.

The other senseless scene which bordered heavily on illogicality was one in which Zul was kidnapped because of a disc which belonged to Azman.

The disc stored all the illegal activities of a syndicate. It was only after the kidnapping that Azman confided in his father about the secret disc and why he was forced to leave Zul in his care.

Father and son got sentimental after this revelation and tried to catch up on lost time. All this was going on when they should actually worry about Zul's safety.

Hassan then set a trap waiting for the culprit to pounce. As expected, the two kidnappers fell into the trap and the great sergeant had a field day showing off his brave stunts to his son and Zul.

But the scene that took the cake was when the clock struck 12 and all three father, son and granddaughter stood at attention to the national anthem and looking at the Malaysian flag which was conveniently placed on the wall.

Now, would any normal retired army personnel (in Malaysia) do such a thing? Apart from driving home the point that one needs to join the army to be patriotic, the other messages were not clear.

In fact, this is one drama which was moulded in one genre but ended up in another. It is supposed to inspire patriotic sentiments but failed miserably because of the unrealistic script and storyline.

Incidentally, a Hindi movie, Pukar 2000, screened earlier over the same channel on the same day in the Panggung Sabtu slot had a better treatment of patriotism.

Exaggeration and fabrication aside, which most Hindi movies are well-known for, Pukar 2000 with Anil Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit managed to give an insight into what it means to sacrifice for the country.

Anil who plays a police officer being framed, fought for justice and sacrificed his rank and put his love life on the line just so to save the honour of his country. It's a love story alright but with more depth.

Perhaps the producer, director and scriptwriter of Cucu Sarjan Hassan (who happened to be the same person) from Shazal Communications should learn a lesson or two about producing good dramas.

Anything that is not real is quite difficult to digest. Patriotism comes from the heart. One can't possibly force this feeling to manifest itself. Producing a drama to instil this feeling is noble but how much does it affect you?

BY ZIEMAN - PUBLISHED 23/8/2000