Jalan Buloh Perindu; the place and the movie - by Peter Chan

There’s one place in the east coast area of Singapore which has streets connected with the Malay film industry; collectively Jalan Dondang Sayang, Jalan Keris, Jalan Puteri Juala Juli, Jalan Buloh Perindu form Cathay Gardens. How strange can that be? I soon found my answers when I was up in KL to see some old friends who happily connected me to people who were involved in the 1962 movie production of Lanchang Kuning which was shot entirely at Cathay-Keris Studio at East Coast Road. I talk about that later but why did I remember this place?

It was my grandmother’s place, a terraced house which she shared with my “Yi Por”. They moved in when Cathay Gardens was completed in 1964. Although my dear “Por Por” has departed, my 96 year old “Yi Por” and aunties still live there. Apart from the Chinese New Year, family gatherings, like someone’s birthday or a funeral, were the reasons for those visits and when adults talk, surely it’s no fun for growing kids like us.

Photo 1: Cathay Gardens. The yellow circle is the gap mentioned in this article. On the bottom left is the seafront of the Ocean Park Hotel; later became Singapore’s first beach discotheque. Make a guess where would be the future Victoria Junior College? (c 1965)

A second reason is my cousins and I spent time checking out this huge building that resembled an aircraft-hanger. It could not be one as this was not the airport. I later found out that it was the Cathay-Keris Studio. I do remember that around the same time, there were movie publications like the Chinese Ladies and Home Pictorial Fortnitely, the Malay Majallah Filem and the English Movie News that carried articles and pictures of this studio and the movies. The information got us excited and each time we met at my grandmother’s house, the kids would adjourned to the fence. We were hoping to look for something to happen. The atmosphere was very quiet and sleepy. We didn’t see “Roll, Camera, Action” but only the production crew making the movie-sets.

Photo 3: The landed properties in Cathay Gardens have changed little from yesterday except for brand new roofs and new façade in some cases. The red roofs were once Cathay-Keris Studio. The gap as mentioned in this article is between the two bungalow houses. Instead of the Ocean Park Hotel, it is Ocean Park Apartments with its high-rise blocks. Where was the sea? (c 2009). Photo Courtesy of Victoria Junior College (VJC).

Now back to my KL friends for the details of the movie industry in Singapore. The first Malay colour film produced was “Buluh Perindu” (1953), shot on site at Cathay-Keris Studio. Swinging Singapore was the “Hollywood of Southeast Asia” for Malay film productions until the late 60s. Malay movie aspirants from the Federation of Malaya made their way south for the screen test. At that time Kuala Lumpur had not yet reached the level of Singapore when it came to film production, albeit there was Studio Merdeka Filem. Just as Hong Kong was the hub of Chinese movie industry, Singapore was the hub of the Malay movie industry. There was often co-operation between Hong Kong and Singapore where movie celebrities, like Yu Meng, Ting Hau and Peter Chen Ho, visited each other’ studios. When American movie stars visited Singapore they were taken to Cathay-Keris Studios. Our Malay actresses like Rose Yatimah, Fatimah Ahmad and Umi Khaltom took time for photo-shots with the visitors. Similar to MGM Studios or Universal Studios, Cathay-Keris Studio also had its fair share of attention when it promoted guided tours and autograph signing sessions.

I am not sure whether you agree with my observation that Cathay Organization’s strength was its large pool of Malay actresses whereas Shaw Brothers focused on P. Ramlee. So today’s Neneks were once yesterday’s Cilipadis. I like to know how many are still alive with us. Anybody knows?

Photo 2: Standing Left to Right – Fatimah Ahmad, Rahmah Ali and Rose Yatimah on the grounds of Cathay-Keris Studio, off East Coast Road (c 1962).

Lastly, in 1969 I saw there was no more sea because land reclamation reached Cathay Gardens. It was around this time that I became the photographer taking photos of my cousin, his girlfriend and his Lotus Super 7. To get in a good position, I stood at this narrow gap between two bungalow houses on Jalan Buloh Perindu. It was also through this gap I walked to the end but found obstacles ahead of me. There was a deep and wide canal which made crossing difficult. In the distance building constructions were going on the reclaimed land; flats and roads. This was the future Marine Parade HDB Estate at Marine Terrace.

Today everything has changed and it was only last year that I had the chance to do some photo-shoot from a high-rise block.
I hope these photos can rekindle our memories again of the place and Malay movies.

PS – You can find several video clips of Lanchang Kuning on YouTube. Here is one of them.