Back with what is poised to be the next big Malaysian film, local director Keng Gan Chiu, whose previous box offices hits include The Journey and Woohoo!, presents Ola Bola which is inspired by true events of Malaysia’s national football team in the 1980s.

Ola Bola revolves around the multicultural Malaysian national football team, fondly known as Harimau Malaya (Malayan Tigers), and their journey towards qualifying for the 1980 Moscow Olympics. This was a shining moment in Malaysian history, and Keng Gan Chiu is happy to showcase it as he is a huge football fan.

Produced locally by Astro Shaw, the movie embodies the essence of Malaysia with a multilingual script of Malay, Tamil, Mandarin and English. Malaysian footballing legends, Dato’ Santokh Singh, Datuk Soh Chin Aun and James Wong were consulted Malaysian footballing history to ensure the movie is as realistic as possible.

The story tells of the national footballers who were at first separated by differences in opinions. This discord led to relentless defeats and poor performances. Eventually, these players found strength and unity as they learnt to work together and overcome hardship, to convince their fans it was worth believing in the team again.  Carrying this message of harmony and togetherness, the movie highlights the emergence of the Malaysian football team as heroes of the nation.

The movie features talented newcomers like Luqman Hafidz, Saran Kumar and Marianne Tan, as well as better known Malaysian actors such as Frankie Lee and Bront Palarae. Also, the official theme song for the movie, Arena Cahaya, was co-written and performed by Malaysian singer-songwriter Zee Avi, who is known and loved globally for her light and easy ukulele orchestrations.

Ola Bola will be showing in cinemas around the country. Check out the trailer below: