Synopsis
Coming-of-age story about a boy growing up in a community of Tamil in Malaysia during the 1990sThe plot centers on Appoy a spirited kid who would rather watch gangster flicks and make prank calls than memorize his multiplication tables. Desperately trying to keep his son on the straight path, Appoy’s hard-working father becomes increasingly abusive, as the boy is inexorably drawn to the criminal lifestyle of his uncle, a henchman for a local Malaysian gang. Set in the early 1990’s, a critical period in Malaysian Indian history, the story subtly underlines the plight of the Malaysian Indian. Forsaken by the estate owners who had employed them for generations and systematically marginalized by the ruling government, they are forced to move to the cities and survive under harsh circumstances. Left out of the nation’s urbanization and development plans, many live in squatters and work at minimum wage jobs.