Gemencheh Boys: The True Story Of How 6 Boys from FELDA Won Malaysia's First Gold for Cricket

He may be one of the greatest athletes in boxing history, but Manny Pacquiao used to live in dire poverty, so much so that his father once ate the family dog out of desperation. Cristiano Ronaldo may now be one of the world’s best in football, but he used to have to make a ball out of rags or bottles because he couldn’t afford one.

Some of the world’s best sportsmen have inspirational stories and the ‘Gemencheh Boys’ similarly is a movie about the true story of a group of FELDA boys who managed to make a name for themselves in local sporting history.

The movie follows the story of a group of kampung boys who grew up in FELDA Bukit Rokan Utara, Negeri Sembilan who were nicknamed ‘Enam Jahanam’ (The Six Rascals) and their journey to becoming world-class cricket pitchers. FELDA, or the Federal Land Development Authority is basically the resettlement of the underprivileged to estates.

With a tagline ‘no retreat, no surrender’, the boys started to change their ways from being mischievous kids when their teacher introduced them to cricket.

The movie is directed by winners of Best Original Story (Adwiraku) at the 2017 Malaysian Film Festival, Jason Chong and Eric Ong, and produced by leading film studio Astro Shaw with GV Corporate Advisory and SOL Pictures. This film is narrated through national cricketer, Shafiq Sharif’s point of view who represented Malaysia in the 2019 Cricket World Cup and successfully clinched the gold medal at the 2017 SEA Games.

The film includes a stellar lineup of actors including Pekin Ibrahim (Munafik) and six boys who were chosen through auditions – Aqil Yaya, Syed Ahmad, Ayiet Harith, Kimi Norais, Izzue Deen and Amir Kuziq who will be making their film debut. Among other notable names starring in this film are Dato’ Ahmad Tamimi Serigar, Zaidi Omar, Farah Ahmad, Azman Hassan, Kamal, Rezuan, Ieda Moin, Arumugam Vedan and more.

The theme song for the film ‘Siapa Kami’ is sung by Negeri Sembilan rap group, W.A.R.I.S together with David Koon, Andrew Lui, and Ronald Mok. The sports drama film is in Malay and has a running time of 107 minutes.

Gemencheh Boys was created with the support of the Malaysian Cricket Association and the Ministry of Youth and Sports. This includes a collaboration during, the International Cricket Council Men’s Cricket World Cup Trophy Tour, which was held for the first time in Malaysia this year.

The Gemencheh Boys roadshow involving various schools around the country will kick off in October. The roadshow will include cricket workshops conducted by the Malaysian Cricket Association to ignite passion for the sport among students. Meanwhile, a collaborative event with social and cultural community group, Locco called ‘Keretapi Sarong’ will take place on 16 September 2023 around the Klang Valley.

‘Gemencheh Boys’ is set to open in cinemas nationwide on 26 October. Follow Astro Shaw on TikTok, Instagram, X, Facebook for the latest news about the Gemencheh Boys.