M. Nasir aims high with Mawi, the actor

taken from OPINION - The Malay Mail 18 January 2007

ASMAWI Ani is officially Malaysia’s highest paid actor despite not having acting experience.
The Akademi Fantasia 3 winner, according to Press reports, will receive RM300,000 for his lead role in Aduh Saliha!, a movie to be directed by his sifu, M. Nasir.

Besides the cash, Mawi is expected to pocket another RM700,000 from ticket sales and royalty of his soundtrack album.

But the question is whether the Tsumawi fever will follow him to the silver screen since all local flicks that feature reality TV stars failed to make an impact at the box-office.

Akademi Fantasia 1 winner Vince Chong who starred in Sembilu 2005 which raked in RM1.6 million.

Adam, the second runner-up of Akademi Fantasia 2, starred in Main-Main Cinta, while Khai and Zarina of AF2 pillared Cinta Fotokopi but both films collected less than RM1 million in ticket sales.

Another example is Zahid, the champion of AF2, who acted in Man Laksa with Farah of AF2. He collected only RM600,000 in ticket sales while Anding of AF2 appeared in Gol & Gincu and failed at the box-office.

If that wasn’t enough, what about this?

Misi 1511 which features Felix and Marsha, did poorly and collected less than RM50,000, despite its RM3.5 million price tag.

My question is: Is Mawi worth the amount invested by the producer?

I dare not guess. I would rather wait for Aduh Saliha! to hit the screen and I wish them the best.

Meor Shariman

Editor, special projects