'Wira': A Promising New Movie From The Director Of 'PASKAL: The Movie'

'Wira', directed by Adrian Teh, revolves around an ex-military man returning home after a long absence to help his family out of a sticky situation with a local thug named Raja.

“'PASKAL' was about people who sacrifice their lives to serve the country. It’s a broader look. Whereas, 'Wira' is the complete opposite.

“It's a story about a commando who decided to retire early to return to his family and help them,” said Teh when we met him at the set of the film recently.

He added that he’s always wanted to direct an action film, but he is aware that it takes a lot of time to plan, choreograph and shoot such movies.

“To buy time, we need a bigger budget. Before 'PASKAL', I don't think any financer will trust me to do this,” he laughed.

What’s interesting about the movie is that most, if not all, the action in the movie was done by the actors.

The movie will see Hairul Azreen playing the lead Hassan, with newcomer Fify Azmi playing his sister Zain and Indonesian actress Isme Melinda playing the antagonist.

Other actors in the movie are Dato Halil Azman and Josiah Hogan.

Another interesting thing about 'Wira' is that it is set to be an introduction to a whole new cinematic world about the ‘unsung heroes’ in Malaysia.

It comes complete with end-credit scenes ala Marvel, Teh revealed

To further add credibility to the project, one of Malaysia's biggest movie studios, Astro Shaw, has signed up to support the film.

Astro Malay Language Business vice president Datuk Khairul Anwar Salleh said that after 'PASKAL', there were talks about the next step, which led to the plans to make a series of movies on the people who fight for the country, especially men in uniforms.

“Such production will take a lot of time, so we decided to first make 'Wira' where we don’t involve any uniform bodies. However, the hero is a former military man,” he said.

At the moment, Teh did not reveal much about the movie -- they are still shooting it as we speak -- but he did say that we can expect at least three movies following 'Wira', presumably action-packed ones, in the next few years.

"With the positive response that we have been receiving for local movies, we can start being more ambitious in filmmaking. The situation is very conducive," he said, after a media visit to ‘Wira’ shooting set.