SEARCH Vol. 9 No. 2, 2017 SEARCH: The Journal of the South East Asia Research Centre for Communications and Humanities Vol. 9 No. 2, 2017, pp. 83-104 ISSN 2229-872X “We Spoke Different Languages, Yet We Sang The Same Song”: An Analysis Of Multiculturalism In Ola Bola Kavita Maheendran * Taylor’s University, Malaysia © The Author(s) 2017. This article is published with open access by Taylor’s Press. ABSTRACT This study explores the portrayal of multiculturalism in the ilm, Ola Bola. In addi- tion, the study also investigates the success behind the movie . The content analysis methodology based research utilised Structuralist Film Theory to write the analysis. Besides analysing the ilm, the researcher also analysed blogs and online portals to gather opinions from various perspectives. From the indings, a total of ive themes (interracial friendship, cross cultural interaction, multilingual dialogues, portrayal of minority community and embracing colour blindness) were gauged from the analysis. As for the success of this ilm, it was found that marketing and promotion campaigns were the main reasons for Ola Bola to perform well at the box ofice. From the analysis done on blogs and portals it was found that most Malaysians enjoyed multicultural ilms, and they also hoped for Malaysians to stay united. Keywords: Ola Bola, multiculturalism, content analysis, Malaysia, Structuralist Film Thoery 1. INTRODUCTION In the words of Hafeez (2012), ilms play a signiicant role as agent of socialisation that regularly work freely against the qualities and ethics of conventional social foun- dations. Movies are perceived as one of the central social foundations in the present day that contribute to the improvement of society. As explained by Garth Jowett (as cited in Hafeez, 2012), since its beginning in the nineteen century, ilms have been a source of entertainment This is signiicantly seen in the sales of movie merchandises, franchises of ilms, millions of fan following all over the world, idolising and idealising movie stars. This phenomenon is not limited only to the popular Hollywood and British ilms but is also noticed among ilms produced in India and Korea (Hafeez, 2012). Ardent fans, award-winning directors, good looking actors and actresses, heavy marketing and campaigning, social media advertising, the spectacular usage of computer graph- ics in a ilm (as shown in trailers) are among the many reasons why a ilm becomes a * Correspondence email: kavitamaheendran@gmail.com