Malaysian Classics (3) : Antara Dua Darjat

Antara Dua Darjat (The Two Classes) is a 1960 Malaysian drama film directed by and starring Malaysian silver-screen legend P. Ramlee.

Story and Plot Point

The film tells the tale of Tengku Zaleha (Saadiah), the daughter of a wealthy man, who is in love with a poor pianist named Ghazali (P. Ramlee). Tengku Zaleha is the only daughter of Tengku Karim (Ahmad Nisfu), a very class-conscious landlord who has two children, the other being Tengku Hassan. Hassan is from Karim's deceased first wife while Zaleha is from his second (present) wife, Yang Chik (Rahimah Alias), who is not of royal blood and is an ex-cabaret girl.After Zaleha completes her studies, her father buys her a bungalow in Johor Baru where she meets and falls in love with Ghazali after he performs at her birthday party. Karim hears of the romance and decides to stop it. He gets his men to beat up Ghazali and at the same time takes his daughter back to Singapore.Yang Chik resents Karim's way of treating Zaleha. She believes that Zaleha should be allowed to marry the man of her choice. However, Karim and Hassan insist that Zaleha must marry her cousin, Tengku Mukri (S. Kadarisman), who is of the "right" lineage. In a heated and violent argument that follows, Hassan hits Yang Chik with a heavy object and kills her. Hassan is arrested and subsequently sentenced to death. Karim is terribly upset with the death of his wife and only son and becomes mentally unstable and ends up in an asylum.Mukri's father, Tengku Ismail, confronts Zaleha with a letter which he claims was written by Karim. After reading it and believing it to be genuine, Zaleha has no choice but marry Mukri. After the marriage, they leave for Zaleha's bungalow in Johor to spend their honeymoon. They are accompanied by a close friend, Tengku Aziz (Yusof Latiff).When the piano at the bungalow is out of order, a tuner is called to repair it. Zaleha is both shocked and happy that the tuner is Ghazali, her former sweetheart.