10 May – The highly-anticipated 1Malaysia Tamil Film Project has finally announced the main cast line-up for their film, titled "12:06am", which consists of Denes Kumar, a dancer, actor, TV presenter and director and local Tamil actress Geethanjali G, who is also a Miss Universe Malaysia 2009 finalist, Astro Vaanavil Vizhuthugal and THR Raaga DJ/Announcer as the male and female leads respectively.
Other cast members include dancer Sasitharan Rajoo, stewardess Nazira Ibrahim, Raja Ilya, and CS Murugan.
"12:06am" will be a departure from the standard film format available in Malaysia. Although the final script is currently in development, it is set to be a suspense thriller about a young Kuala Lumpur executive named Leela, whose innocent family trip to Malacca turns into a mystical adventure when she finds herself mysteriously connected to an old temple in Malacca. Together with the help of an archeologist and friend named Arvind, they embark on a frantic chase for clues that may uncover the treasures of a lost ancient civilization, but things get tricky when a group of thieves get wind of their plan.
The film's other purpose is to serve as a tourism booster, with Tourism Malaysia and various government bodies such as the Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Information, Communication and Culture, Celcom, Malaysia Airlines, and 1Malaysia Media Entertainment in collaboration. It will be shot entirely in Tamil with additional languages such as Malay and Chinese in certain takes in order to cater to its' vision of making it a 1Malaysia theme. There are also measures taken to cater for international audiences as well, with the film to be shot not only in Malaysia, but in Egypt and India as well, along with an international cast.
"12:06am"'s release date has been tentatively set in November, in conjunction with Deepavali. It is the first of the three projects under the 1Malaysia film label.
Previously, an audition was held for Malaysians to provide them with an opportunity to appear in the film and about 150 candidates were selected. For those who could not turn up or were not chosen, there would be more opportunities in the future.
