Tapping Tik Tok for tale about deafness in Badak

Singapore film-maker M. Raihan Halim gleaned insights from the clips featuring deaf influencers for his new movie

- John Lui Senior Film Correspondent

When Singaporean filmmaker M. Raihan Halim wanted to make a movie featuring a main character who is deaf, he turned to the resource most people have in their pockets: TikTok.

"I learnt about deaf people's everyday lives primarily through TikTok," he says. "Watching videos where they communicated in sign language, I realised they're just regular people living normal lives."

Influencers who are deaf on the social media platform's #DeafTok hashtag gave Raihan an insight that would shape his approach to the music-filled drama Badak, which he wrote and directed. It is now showing in Singapore cinemas.

It stars Malaysian actors Shaheizy Sam and Wan Hanafi Su, who both appeared in his previous film La Luna (2024). The drama-comedy was Singapore's submission for the Best International Feature Film category at the 97th Academy Awards in 2025, but was not nominated.

"They only feel disabled when they're around hearing people who don't know how to interact with them," says Raihan, 43, in an interview with The Straits Times at a press event at GV Suntec on Oct 17. Many films featuring characters who have disabilities use them as devices that support the able-bodied main character on a heartwarming journey towards redemption, or they may be treated as a victim or saint.

This understanding led Raihan to create a protagonist whose problems stem from personal flaws rather than his disability.

"I wasn't trying to represent the entire deaf community. This is specifically Badak's story - his problems come from his refusal to change or learn, not from his deafness."