The Japanese occupation of the Indies led to all but one film studio in the country being closed; Njoo and Young went back to the theatre, joining the Bintang Soerabaia troupe. In 1945 Njoo established the "Pantjawarna" troupe and divorced Young – with whom he had had five children – to marry Mipi Malenka. Sometime after Indonesia proclaimed its independence in 1945 Njoo took the Indonesian name Munzik Anwar.