Movie time: Qabil Khushry Qabil Igam

I used to spend a lot of time for movies, spending at least ten hours each week for downloaded or purchased/rented films. And my watching hours were very irregular, simply because I have had so much time near home theater devices - computers, TV, DVD player, satellite TV receiver, PVR, big hi-fi speakers etc, just about any time of the day - early morning, late morning, afternoon, after lunch, well, you get the pictures. And going out means going to cinemas after lunch/dinner 50% of the time. Those were the days you know, when you're about to start pajamaworking, and you suddenly have so much time and freedom to anything you want to do without having to answer to any boss, or having to deal with time punch cards. And I watched, and watched some dozens of movies each week. Not enough with the automated downloads, purchases/rentals from local stores, and frequent trips to the cinemas, the long preset queue at NetFlix supplied me with even more movies of all kind of genres, that I once became so good at "6th degrees from Kevin Bacon" trivia game.

Soon when you realized that you're having too much fun or getting too distracted off work, and the bills are starting to pile up, it's back to business and work, even at home, and also at irregular hours, working some 12 hours more per day throughout morning, day, and past midnight too, and that means less time for 90+ minute in front of TV. This happens to me the past couple months. It's been a while since I last watch a marathon of the complete SmallVille Season 6 and Heroes inaugural season series. It's been a while since I last watched a full-feature films too except Spiderman 3 some two weeks ago (I almost never stop watching video podcasts, local TV streams, Joost and YouTube etc. though)

And it's been a while since I last watched a Malay (Malaysian-made) film too. There aren't that many good ones anyway, except maybe Yasmin Ahmad's Sepet (I haven't had a chance to catch up with her Gubra & Muksin featuring the full line up of Sharifah A* siblings though), and some old flixes from the 60s to 80s -- Since the early 90s, most of the Malay films were puking (too much cliches, not so funny jokes, not so scary stories/visuals, no so entertaining and the list goes on.)

Today though, I spent about two hours watching Qabil Khusry Qabil Igam, featuring all-star actors and actresses -- respectable and popular names like Dato Rahim Razali, Fauziah Nawi, Hans Isaac, Rusdi Ramli, Erra Fazira and Ziana Zain, all of whom carried their roles very well throughout the whole movie, playing both joyful characters at the beginning of the story and movingly sad characters towards the end of the movie. That said, I almost thought that the movie is just another comedic attempts, to be full of cliches when the director starts bring Indian Bollywood elements into it, you know the dancing, singing, cloth changing, romantic encounters etc. Reaching the middle of it, it's a sudden turn of the story. Well, let's just say that this is one of the movies that make your eyes wet, endlessly and painfully. Not like In the Name of the Father, Braveheart or Forrest Gump, but, more like a nice Shah Rukh Khan's -- it's nice however that QKQI needs only 125 minutes to deliver the story instead of 150 minutes or more for similar movies!

If you haven't watch this one, do check it out. It's full of positive message, reflecting on our societal issues and it's a good Romeo & Juliet type of love story.

Here's a plot review at Yahoo Movies (WARNING: link may contains spoilers): "Qabil Khushry Qabil Igam" is a tale about non-identical twins Khushry (Hans Issac) and Igam (Rusdi Ramli). Khushry loves his brother very much, sharing secrets, joys and also sad moments. However, a destructive indulgence by Igam brings havoc to the families the day before their joint wedding. Khushry's wedding goes on as planned, but Igam's bride, Karisma, has to spend the night alone at home - waiting for Igam to return."

Another movie for me to watch is perhaps Waris Jari Hantu (also starring Rusdi Ramli). Recommend it?