Cover Sahal Zaman became Best New Actor at the Hong Kong Film Awards (Photo: Zed Leets/Tatler Hong Kong)
Sahal Zaman became Best New Actor at the Hong Kong Film Awards (Photo: Zed Leets/Tatler Hong Kong)
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While child actor Sahal Zaman didn't relate to his role in ‘The Sunny Side of the Street’, he loved the Hong Kong movie for shedding light on refugee experiences
When Sahal Zaman became the first South Asian person to be named Best New Actor at the Hong Kong Film Awards last year defeating candidates including Mirror’s Edan Lui and Jer Lau—the then 11-year-old might not have realised the significance of his win. Receiving the prize from Malaysian actor Michelle Yeoh, he said onstage, “I was very happy when I was making the movie. Can everyone go and watch The Sunny Side of the Street, please?”
A year after receiving the award, as well as a new level of popularity at school—with classmates calling him “Superman”— Zaman has also gained a new understanding of what his film means to the local film industry. “This movie is pretty good because there aren’t that many movies about refugees [in Hong Kong],” he says. “[I played] a refugee living a hard life; [the role taught me to remind others] that even if you’re in a bad situation, you don’t have to be scared. Just try and do what you’ve got to do and you’re going to succeed.”
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Above Sahal Zaman played a Hong Kong-born Pakistani boy in ‘The Sunny Side of the Street’ (Photo: Zed Leets/Tatler Hong Kong)
Above Sahal Zaman’s win is an example of how the city’s film scene is becoming inclusive (Photo: Zed Leets/Tatler Hong Kong)
Sahal Zaman played a Hong Kong-born Pakistani boy in ‘The Sunny Side of the Street’ (Photo: Zed Leets/Tatler Hong Kong)
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In the film, Zaman plays Hassan, a Hong Kong-born Pakistani boy whose father dies in a car crash caused by a local taxi driver, played by Anthony Wong. The driver seeks redemption through helping the boy and his mother, in the process forming an unexpected bond with the child.
The film’s director Lau Kok Rui discovered Zaman after spending six months in 2021 looking for actors in the community centres of Kwai Chung, where there is a large Pakistani community. “I had a great impression of Sahal since day one: he didn’t speak very fluent Cantonese but he was smart, hardworking and wasn’t shy when he worked with our scriptwriters, and even established actor Anthony Wong,” Lau says. “Based on this, I chose a young actor with zero film experience.”
Zaman’s talent is exemplified by his convincing portrayal of a character he doesn’t relate to. The now 12-year-old was born in Pakistan and moved to Hong Kong with his parents and younger brother when he turned four. He’s a student at Christian Nationals’ Evangelism Commission Ta Tung School, a local school, where he studies English, Cantonese and Mandarin—skills that he, as a native Urdu speaker, has found particularly useful for life in Hong Kong. When asked if he’d experienced similar discrimination to his character, he laughed off the suggestion. “If a non-Cantonese [person] knows how to speak Cantonese and English,” he says, “life will be very easy.”
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Above Sahal Zaman has been focusing on school since ‘The Sunny Side of the Street’ wrapped up (Photo: Zed Leets/Tatler Hong Kong)
Above Sahal Zaman loves watching action films (Photo: Zed Leets/Tatler Hong Kong)
Sahal Zaman has been focusing on school since ‘The Sunny Side of the Street’ wrapped up (Photo: Zed Leets/Tatler Hong Kong)
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Since The Sunny Side wrapped, he has been focusing on working hard at school; he isn’t sure if he will pursue a film career, but his first onscreen experience has at least planted the seed that it is an option. “I’d ever only watched my movie and some Avengers movies. Now I feel every [type of ] film is really interesting,” he says. “I love action movies [in particular], so maybe I’ll work in action movies someday.”
That is certainly a possibility. Zaman’s historic win is an example of how the city’s film scene is progressing towards greater inclusiveness through presenting stories and recognising filmmakers of overlooked communities in the city. Lau says, “As society progresses, different communities will have a higher chance to present themselves through the medium of film. As long as there is a good story, I believe people of different ethnicities can be cast for the lead roles.”
Zabrina is the Senior Editor, Arts and Culture of Tatler Hong Kong. She specialises in performing arts, visual art and film. Her wanderlust was first fuelled by the Mighty Rovers Antarctica Expedition 2010. Over the years, she has interviewed A-list artists and filmmakers, including Oscar winners Chlóe Zhao and Tim Yip, Golden Horse winner Sylvia Chang, In the Mood for Love cinematographer Christopher Doyle, Pachinko author Min Jin Lee, and Coachella’s first Chinese solo singer Jackson Wang. She won gold at the WAN-IFRA Asian Media Awards for her 2021 feature on the waves of hate crimes targeting Asian Americans.
