We are currently seeing more of our national language of Bahasa Malaysia being shown to international audiences worldwide. A recent but notable example was its brief inclusion into the dialogue of Marvel’s ‘Shang-Chi’.
Recently, Kelantan-born content creator and special effects pro, Mohamad Sofian posted a video promoting the recently released Fast & Furious 9. But what was even cooler was that American wrestler turned actor John Cena was also in it!
The short clip starts off with the 25-year-old content creator surprising John with a “gigantic toy” that resembles a rocket launcher of some sort, for him to use in the movie.
Sofian says, “I have something for you, tengok ni,” to which John Cena responded hilariously with, “Tengok apa? What is that?”
“Cun. What is it?” asked John before Sofian proceeds to fire the weapon releasing a rocket that whizzes around uncontrollably around the screen but was fortunately deflected away by the former pro wrestler.
“Bapak. Power lah, Sofian!”
Although John’s BM pronunciation wasn’t excellent, his effort was commendable to say the very least!
The next scene featured the interaction being “paused” before revealing that Sofian was actually on a Zoom video call with John Cena.
“I think there is a connection issue John,” says Sofian.
“Sofian it’s okay, I look forward to seeing you in cinemas for Fast 9,” said John.
Speaking to WORLD OF BUZZ, Sofian explained that he was approached by United International Pictures Malaysia who offered him the chance to do a special shoot with the actor from the Fast & Furious 9 movie.
“I was really excited and happy because at the time of the video call, John Cena greeted me really politely and I was shocked to find that he is really friendly.”
Touching on how he managed to get John Cena to speak BM, Sofian explained that, “We submitted audio samples for John Cena to refer to, and he practised it beforehand and managed to get it correctly during the shoot.”
“John really put in a lot of effort for this! And yes it was my team’s idea to make him speak BM,” added Sofian.
Netizens were amused and entertained
Sofian’s video which was posted on his social media pages as well as YouTube channel had garnered plenty of attention from Malaysians. The video on YouTube currently sits on over 338,000 views, whilst on Twitter, it has been watched for over 339,000 times!
Malaysians flooded the comments section of the clip to express their delight and amusement over the video. As expected when it comes to anything John Cena, many comments were related to the hilarious “You Can’t See Me” meme.
One user said, “Sofyank. If you need help don’t be afraid to share. I’m worried seeing you talk to yourself.” 
Another said, “Someone check this guy, worried since he is talking to himself.”
Aside from those comments, many congratulated Sofian on the achievement and how proud they were of him.
An Indonesian commenter said, “Well done, salam from Indonesia, I am proud of Malaysians.”
Another said, “Sofian is very talented and it’s rare to find someone as humble as him. Let’s support him to a million subscribers as a sign of appreciation and to give support to him and his team to create more content.”
What’s to note is that the Malaysian content creator is no stranger to rubbing shoulders with some of the biggest stars in Hollywood. He has in the past, made videos with actor Will Smith and YouTuber Zach King.
Thank you, Sofian for introducing a bit of our language and culture to one of America’s biggest stars.
Check out the video here.
What do you think of this? Let us know in the comments.
Also read: Guess What Malaysians? You’ll Be Hearing Some Bahasa Malaysia In Marvel’s ‘Shang-Chi’!
