Monday, September 18, 2006

Armp-It grosses 4 million at box-office

Armp-It grosses 4 million at box-office
by Ridzwan A. Rahim

After six weeks of its public screening, the producers of Armp-It has revealed that the movie has grossed more than 4 million viewers.

The movie, based on the life of illegal street racers and their underarms, played to packed cinemas nationwide when it opened last month.

It spares no details in potraying unkempt and sweaty armpit hair in its full cinematic glory.

Scores of people were seen covering their faces with disgust in cinemas. Last week, an old woman fainted in a cinema in Batang Kali while watching the movie.

Producer David Teo, when told about the woman, was gubra (apprehensive) at first but quickly found an explanation. "Prior to the shoot, we told to our actors not to shave their armpit because we were going for the shock factor!", he said with an evil laughter, adding that in the case of the old woman, the tactic worked beautifully.

But Teo's Armp-It opened to a controversial start as critics said it was the first local movie to be allowed to explicitly show armpits, pointing to two such scenes: the bedroom scene and the waterfall scene.

"It's controversial if you want to look at it that way. But I was potraying the real world of Mat Rempit. It is no secret that they cultivate plenty of armpit hair," said director Ahmad Idham Ahmad Nazri. "I think it's supposed to keep them warm during night races or something."

Teo said viewers can look forward to even more shocks next year as a sequel to Armp-It is currently in the works. It's about the other hairy part of the human body "but don't make me say it. Amacam, ada bran? (Are you game for it?)," he asked with a naughty grin.