#SHOWBIZ: Blood Brothers: Bara Naga celebrates action, teamwork

New Straits Times

16-05-2025

THE most-talked-about Malaysian movie this year, Blood Brothers: Bara Naga has been warmly welcomed by Malaysians of all races as a celebration of Bangsa Malaysia in cinema.
It has Bangsa Malaysia written all over its multiracial cast - starring major Malay actors Sharnaaz Ahmad, Syafiq Kyle, Shukri Yahaya and Syazwan Zulkifly, Chinese actors Andy Teh and Chris Tong Bing Yu, Indian actors such as Irfan Zaini (Indian Muslim) and Amelia Henderson (Indian-Scottish), and Sabahan Tracie Sinidol who is of Kadazan-Dusun-Murut heritage.
And on a closer look, the unsung heroes who worked hard behind the scenes to make it an astounding success are likewise.
The New Straits Times recently caught up with some of them, namely director, writer and co-producer Abhilash Chandra, line producer Nana Azmi, cinematographer Nicholas Chin, colourist Ooi Yi Jing, and assistant stunt director Mohamad Fauzan Mohamad Dohir, as they shared some interesting and less-known stories about working with the star-studded cast over the last two years.
Klang-born Abhilash, 37, is of course, director Syafiq Yusof's partner in crafting the film.
A Masters graduate in film from New York University, Tisch School Of The Arts, he began as an on-set personal assistant in the assistant director's department for the US$100 million 2014 Netflix historical epic series Marco Polo, which was filmed in Pinewood Iskandar Studios, Iskandar Puteri, Johor, a little over a decade ago.
"I learnt a lot about professional on set filmmaking there, and how sets were run at the highest level with incredible meticulous detail and it was exciting because I got to experience and work as a crew in the coordination of huge battle scenes.
"But my real involvement in my own designed fight scenes started with Polis Evo 3 in 2023, where I was the writer and led the choreography design with the stunt boys who later formed Defenderz," said Abhilash whose favourite action movies are those made by John Woo, Michael Bay, Steven Spielberg and Gareth Evans.
"While I love Evans' The Raid, my all-time favourite director is Spielberg because he infuses action with emotion to create meaningful exhilarating set pieces that leave a lasting impact on the viewer," said Abhilash who shares with Syafiq a similar passion for action-packed films.
TOM CRUISE
Abhilash said that Blood Brothers was an idea he presented to Syafiq and crafted the story through many discussions with him, as they built the central thematic story around powerful and profound messages of family, friendship and belonging.
"The core of its story, is brotherhood and the emotional bond between men, something it shares with Tom Cruise's Top Gun and its sequel Top Gun 2: Maverick," he said.
"And because Blood Brothers depicts its heroes as strong-yet-sensitive men, we were pleasantly surprised to discover a majority of Blood Brothers fans who flocked to watch it in cinemas nationwide were female fans."
FANS
Abhilash revealed that some of these hardcore fans have watched Blood Brothers 10 times, and their love of the movie rang loud and clear when the main cast comprising Sharnaaz Ahmad, Syafiq Kyle, Shukri Yahaya, Syazwan Zulkifly, Irfan Zaini and Andy Teh were mobbed at most cinemas during their 7-week roadshow across the country.
"Most of these fans were not just from Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, but also from the Northern Region, East Coast and East Malaysia.
"Female fans made their presence felt during these road tours while male fans made their presence felt online," said Abhilash.
During the meet-and-greet sessions with fans, Andy who plays bad boy Pablo, impressed fans with his K-pop looks and husky voice, while Irfan who plays "playboy" Malik gained many fan girls with his natural Bollywood charms.
SILAT
Fauzan, the key designer of the action of Blood Brothers with stunt director Ubai said that the actors' martial arts training lasted five months just before filming began while the design of the choreography itself took 3 months before that.
"Not all of the stars were already experienced in martial arts, in fact some of them were struggling," he said, adding that the working environment during training was intensive.
"There were some challenges and some actors did struggle, but we dealt tactfully with them in order to keep their morale going. All of the stunts began with discussions, then a raw video was made for the fight scenes which we pre-visualised in detail.
"Much later, the final product was created and brought to the set. It formed our physical template to test with the actors, and if an actor was not comfortable with it, we made the necessary alterations according to their strengths ."
KNIVES
Mohamad Fauzan revealed that Andy, a natural skilled martial artist amongst the Blood Brothers, never fought using knives but was able to adapt quickly in order to play the ruthless Pablo.
"It took three months to design the stunts, and a total of six instructors to train the actors.
"While we are trained in silat, we made sure that the actors did raw and rough fighting instead of the stylish silat."
Nana said that the length of every day of filming was taxing, and likewise the number of takes per scene.
"My team dealt with low morale by not 'pissing' the cast off. We got the diverse cast to bond well by friendly chatting and trying our best to accomodate their needs during those tough days on set especially at 3 to 4 am in the morning after doing heavy stunt scenes.
"Knowing some of the main actors helped greatly with the production process.
"Yes, a few of the actors had mood swings and found it difficult to adjust to the grueling shoot but they gradually did, and my team and I always made sure we supported them," she said, adding that the three-month filming process was done in mid-2024.
SPORTS
Nana praised Andy for guiding his co-stars in mastering martial arts.
"He was a real gentleman, very helpful, and a great team-player. As for Irfan, he did not have experience doing fight scenes, but he worked very hard to master them and came out tops," she said.
"Shukri was a bit scared at first, but all of us persuaded him that he could do it, and eventually he gave a stellar performance, probably one of the best in his career."
Nana described the Blood Brothers actors as fast-learners, especially Syafiq Kyle who excelled in the fights because of his incredible stamina and his sportsman background.
"We filmed 13 hours a day with an average of 10 to 15 takes for each scene. At first, the actor tries his own thing, and after the third or fourth take, we start guiding him," she said, adding that 80 per cent of filming was done at night.
"Many of the actors knew each other prior to Blood Brothers, especially Sharnaaz and Syafiq Kyle who acted together in Polis Evo 3. Knowing each other helped them bond well on the set and perfect each scene," said Nana, who previously worked in Syafiq's anti-corruption blockbuster Sheriff: Narko Integriti which was screened last year.
POLICE
Abhilash said that the police helped the team in the form of advice and handling weapons.
"Many of the main stars and some of the crew had good training in handling weapons and explosives previously for example through their work in Polis Evo 3 and Takluk.
He added that all explosions were done in one take, and no computer-generated imagery or CGI enhancement was used.
Abhilash also said that stuntman Razib Salimin who played senior Blood Brother Abang Sham was the "go-to guy" when it came to pyrotechnics and explosions, while Syazwan had the "fright of his life" when the frog that perched on his head in a scene was a giant bullfrog which tried to jump down on his face.
TRACKS
Nicholas, 34, has been a cinematographer for a decade, having worked on hundreds of commercials and Blood Brothers is his first feature film.
"I've known Abhilash for at least a decade, so the trust and bond was there between us. Prior to Blood Brothers, I made a few short films with him including a PSA in 2023 called Haze Zilla, and it was an anti-pollution story where Ray Dap Dap played a giant who unleashed the haze on Kuala Lumpur.
"That is how Ray and I both landed a place in Blood Brothers," he said.
Nicholas said that his photography crew thought out of the box and did things differently from the start.
"We used many moving shots on a Segway, without the use of tracks, which is new for Malaysian films," he said, adding that they also used the Sony Venice camera for the first time.
The reason why Nicholas chose that camera was because it could be detached from its bulky body, making the shooting of action scenes fluid and dynamic while maintaining clarity at 6K resolution.
Nicholas revealed that one interesting scene had to be done at a special time, based on the full moon.
"The scene where Sharnaaz walks away from a car blowing up, was shot in Hulu Langat and the full moon allowed for greater visibility despite how pitch black the jungle area was. Filming it in such conditions made it a lot more dramatic," he said.
DRONES
Nicholas also personally handled the iconic drone shot for the ending of the film with Sharnaaz riding into the sunset. None of that was CGI, and it required precise timing and coordination to get the shot at the exact time when the sun was perfect.
Jing, the master colourist of the film, said that he set the mood and tone of the film beforehand with Abhilash meticulously, and this gave Blood Brothers a Hollywood look. Their colour references were shows like Max series The Penguin and Korean action film Kill Bok Soon. The entire process took three months and Jing would meticulously craft the grade with Abhilash frame by frame.
"As the person in charge of grading, it is my job to get the right tone for all of the scenes to reflect their moods.
"We hand crafted more than 3,000 frames painstakingly over three months. I think with the time given the result is something a little more special than usual. In commercials we never get to be this gritty so it's fun doing this and challenging the creative look," Jing said.
Nicholas added that he used different anamorphic lenses for the flashback scenes, involving the heroes' younger selves, to give the flashbacks their own identity. Jing would later add richness and texture to the colour to reflect the harshness of their early days.
This is one example of how the cinematographer and colourist work together to form the final picture.
MONTH
Nicholas added that the third act final battle took a month to shoot.
The longest of all scenes, it had to have its own aesthetic, so it did not look generic and repetitive.
He used a particular colour palette with ember tones which Jing later enhanced in post.
Abhilash said that the film was built on the backs of Malaysians for Malaysians, and he is deeply grateful that Skop Productions is championing the way forward for making films this way.
Blood Brothers: Bara Naga is still blazing through cinemas, and is currently the second highest grossing local film of all time with RM76 million at the box office.