Introduction to the Curated Page
Tan Sri P. Ramlee was born Teuku Zakaria bin Teuku Nyak Puteh on 22 March 1929 in Georgetown, Penang. In 1948, he moved to Singapore and began a highly successful, decades-long film career at Shaw's Malay Film Productions, a film studio at Jalan Ampas, Balestier. There, he would come to be known as a true renaissance man, accumulating acting, composing, directing, and writing credits - often within the same film.
P. Ramlee's body of work consisted of a mix of melodrama, romance, and irreverent comedy, including films like Penarek Bacha (Trishaw Man), Hang Tuah, Antara Dua Darjat (Between Two Classes), Ibu Mertuaku (My Mother In-Law), Madu Tiga (Three Wives), Tiga Abdul (The Three Abduls), as well as the Bujang Lapok (Old Bachelors) and Do Re Mi series. Many of his films centred the experience of the common man confronted with the idiosyncrasies of Singaporean life, a perspective which captured the hearts of audiences from all walks of life. His success in Singapore would lead him to become closely associated with the "Golden Age of Malay Cinema", a 25-year period from the late 1940s to the early 1970s during which more than 250 Malay-language films were produced in Singapore by MFP and Cathay-Keris.
We are proud to present this specially curated selection of audiovisual records which document significant moments in P. Ramlee's life. It includes film soundtracks, pop records, variety show appearances, and oral history interviews with P. Ramlee's contemporaries, friends and colleagues. We invite you to embark on this audiovisual journey into his illustrious life, and join us in remembering his legacy.
Remembering the Golden Age of Malay Cinema: P. Ramlee is an initiative by the National Archives of Singapore that celebrates P. Ramlee's profound impact on Singapore's artists, audiences, and film industry, past and present. The initiative comprises a curated page of archived audiovisual records documenting P. Ramlee's life and work, as well as a crowdsourcing call for records documenting the Golden Age of Malay Cinema.
To access full recordings, visit the National Archives of Singapore, the National Library, or any public library.
The views expressed should be contextualised within the political, social and economic context of that time.
