UiTM Students Turn Milo Dinosaur’s ‘Tabah’ Into Beautiful Short Film About Love, Sacrifice

By Danial Martinus  •  29 Jul 2025 in Music

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Malaysian emo band Milo Dinosaur have always worn their hearts on their sleeves.

But the band takes things further with ‘Tabah’, a song first released in 2018, swapping guitar pedals for camera lenses to deliver a powerful short film that cuts deeper than you think.

A standalone work of art

Released on 28 July on Milo Dinosaur’s official YouTube channel, the Tabah short film isn’t just a visual companion to one of their most overlooked tracks, it’s a standalone project that’s crafted with care, honesty, and immense emotional weight.

Directed by Aqmar Nurhakim and produced by BigKid, the film was brought to life by first-year film students from UiTM Puncak Perdana, working under the collective Bangsa Kamera Produksi.

What started out as a class assignment slowly morphed into something bigger when the team found themselves stuck in traffic; tired and uninspired. Then ‘Tabah’ started playing on the car stereo.

That moment of clarity sparked a spontaneous message to Milo Dinosaur guitarist, Jimmy, and the rest was history.

“We just told them to go wild with it and do what felt right, and they totally nailed it,” says the band. “We wanted more than a run-of-the-mill studio band music video, and the element of story-telling was integral to this project.”

And tell a story they did

Set in an undisclosed modern Malaysian city, Tabah follows Rohaya (played with quiet strength by Suraida Abu Hassan), an elderly single mother who sells homemade kek batik to support her grown son Haziq (played by Nazmie Hisham).

She works tirelessly to make ends meet, even when her advanced age starts taking its toll. Still, her love for her son endures, manifesting itself not through words, but action.

Haziq, on the other hand, battles internal guilt and helplessness, watching the woman who raised him struggle in silence.

Director Aqmar leaned into the song’s long instrumental sections to let the story breathe, giving every glance and gesture a sense of weight.

“While ‘Kasih’ is the more popular song, ‘Tabah’ is powerful in its restraint,” said Aqmar. “The long instrumental gave us freedom to tell a story.”

A love letter to the unsung heroes in our lives

The band has become a cult favourite in Malaysia’s emo scene since forming all the way back in 2017. Known for their off-kilter rhythms and emotionally raw songwriting, they’re often compared to underground outfits like The Get Up Kids and Sport.

But Tabah, the film, is perhaps their most ambitious offering yet. Not because it’s flashy, but because it’s deeply human.

It’s a love letter to the unsung heroes in our lives, like single mothers, blue collar workers, and anyone quietly holding their world together while no one’s watching.

With a student crew balancing coursework and creative hustle, as well as a band willing to hand over the reins to a new generation of storytellers, Tabah is a testament to what happens when honest art finds honest people.

Watch Tabah below:

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