Hans Isaac & Gabby

This one to one interview with Hans Isaac  took place after few weeks he announced that he is getting married. theSun had published the interview today.  Read the full story here  

Headline : New Beginning 
By Bissme 


EXCITEMENT is written all over his face whenever producer, director, and actor Hans Isaac talks about his upcoming wedding on July 29. His bride-to-be is 28-year-old Aileen Gabriella Robinson, affectionately known as Gabby, who is a former dancer and beauty queen (Miss Tourism International 2011), and who currently does emcee duty for corporate events. In this exclusive interview, Hans, 45, talks about his two loves – his Gabby, and his career.

*Was your relationship love at first sight?  

I do not believe in love at first sight. How can you love someone at first sight when you have not met her before? You do not know her character. You have to take time to know people. We have been friends for six years. Our turning point was last year when we realised we were still single, and decided to take our friendship to another level.   

*What do you like and dislike about Gabby? 

Money is not everything to her, and I find that refreshing. She does not define a person through wealth. She also knows how to pamper me and accepts my strength and my weaknesses. What I dislike about her ... well, she loves to procrastinate.  

Gives us a sneak preview of your wedding plans. 

I had wanted my parents to be a big part of my wedding. [But since] they have passed away, I will include elements of them in my wedding. 
For my church wedding, I will be wearing barong (traditional Filipino attire) because my mother was Filipino. After the church wedding, there will be a lunch reception for family members and close friends. The food will feature Indian cuisine (his dad was Indian-Eurasian). 
At night, the wedding reception will have more of a European atmosphere, and that comes from Gabby’s side. At the reception, [local music legend] Micheal Verappan, with his 40-piece band, will entertain the guests. 
I’m also getting [English actor singer] Stephen Rahman Hughes to fly in for my wedding and perhaps perform a duet with [singer] Jaclyn Victor. 

Are you getting married because you are getting older and facing pressure to tie the knot?  (Laughs) 

If I had not found the right woman, I would not be getting married. I will never commit myself to the wrong person. I am not the type who gives in to pressure. 

*You once said that if you had gotten married earlier, you would be a divorcee by now.  

I was too wrapped up in my career. I was filming every day. My career would have interfered with my marriage. Then, I had to take care of my mother who was suffering from cancer. I wanted to spend my time looking after her (she passed away three years ago). Now, I’m ready to settle down.

*What’s next in your career?  

I [will be playing] a commander in Police Evo 2. I have never played a military role before. Also, I will be producing a free motivational tour all over Malaysia in August and September. There will be 10 comedians who will perform comedy sketches and give motivational talks to members of the public.  I am also planning to direct an epic film entitled Rejang (a reference to the Rejang river in Sarawak), focusing on the Iban and Dayak communities. This [is] my dream project. 

*What change would you like to see in the local film industry? 

[For] our cinemas [to show] 60% Malaysian films and 40% foreign films. South Korea has done that, and it has boosted its film industry.” 

*You also founded Tall Order Productions, which among other things, stages musical theatre shows. What is the concept behind the shows? 

[They] are mostly about underdogs achieving success. For example, Lat the Musical is about a kampung boy who goes on to become an international cartoonist; Cuci the Musical is about four window cleaners who want to wash the windows of Petronas Twin Towers; Supermokh the Musical is a biopic about a young boy who becomes a famous footballer. I wanted to motivate Malaysians so that they can achieve any dream if they put their minds to it. 

Hans also revealed that he has already planned his next musical, which will be about a “prominent sports personality”. He kept mum about the individual’s identity, but it might very well be our local badminton hero Datuk Lee Chong Wei. Fans will just have to wait and see 

Saw Teong Hin

Malaysian director Saw Teong Hin speaks to theSun about his latest film You Mean The World to Me that highlights his relationship with  his mother  

Headline: A Family Affair

LOCAL director Saw Teong Hin’s latest film, You Mean the World to Me, is something very close to his heart. It is based on his family, especially his contentious relationship with his mother. In addition, it is the first Malaysian-made Hokkien movie.
You Mean the World to Me centres on Sunny, a filmmaker who returns to his hometown in Penang to shoot a new film. Playing Sunny is Malaysian actor Federick Lee, while Singaporean actress Neo Swee Lin plays his mother.
Others in the cast include John Tan, Yeo Yann Yann and Tan Ai Suan, while Penang boy Gregg Koay takes on his first film role playing the young Sunny.
Saw, who was named best director at the 18th Malaysia Film Festival for his work on 2004’s Puteri Gunung Ledang, says: “I have [had] some success in my film career, [but none] of the work I was doing was truly reflective of me. I wanted to do something meaningful for myself.” 
So, Saw set out to write a script that featured more of his ‘voice’, including characters based upon himself, his siblings, and his mother. Saw was the youngest of six children. His mother came from a rich family, and she married his father, who was wealthy in his own right. However, the family soon fell on hard times.
“[Going] from having money, to not having money, must have been hard on her,” he said.
To make matters worse, one of his older brothers suffered from psychological issues.
“He was a disruptive force in my family,” Saw remembers.
“But my late mother was constantly defending him.” 
There were plans to commit his brother to an institution where he could get help. But his mother would not accept the suggestion.
“I could not understand how my mother chose to love one child more than the others,” he says.
“I always thought my mother never loved me. And I resented her for that.”
Saw insists that he has no intention of painting his late mother as a villain in the movie. He says, in his youth, he let his resentment rule him, adding: “I did not put myself in her shoes, and I just judged her. When you have resentment, you have no compassion.
“I was not good to her when she was alive. But over the years, [maturity] allowed me to see my mother in a totally different light.  I made this movie because I wanted to highlight her sacrifices, and to make a public apology for all the wrong I had done to her.”
Saw admits that he took some creative liberty, adding doses of fiction into the otherwise autobiographical story.
“For example, I had five siblings but in the movie, my lead character only has an older brother and sister,” he says.
Saw admits that directing the film brought on several challenges. He had designed the set to look like his childhood home. When he arrived to shoot the movie, it brought back all the raw emotions surrounding his past, but Saw managed to hold himself together and continue working. He also faced opposition from his siblings.
“Most Asians do not like talking about the ugliness and the flaws in their family.”
Thankfully, his siblings managed to put aside their reservations and trusted him to tell their story fairly. Saw wrote the script in 2010, but securing financing for the film turned out to be an arduous task. Some said they would only invest in the project if he changed the language spoken to Mandarin. “Language is an important element in understanding a person’s personality and character,” Saw says. “Every language is structured differently. If you are a native Hokkien speaker, your nuances will be different from a Mandarin speaker. I can’t really imagine my characters speaking Mandarin. It was a very personal script to me and I was not ready to make that change.” 
 In 2014, he presented the work as a stage play, which received rave reviews. The success of the play helped open doors for him to get funds to turn the play into a feature film. Saw also managed to rope in international cinematographer Christopher Doyle (who worked on Wong Kar Fai’s In the Mood for Love and Zhang Yimou’s Hero). He also got Taiwanese singer Zhao Chuan to sing the movie’s theme song.
“When you watch the film, you will realise that I love my family, and I am proud of where I came from,” he says.
“I am hoping my audience will walk away feeling grateful for their family, and their parents. Your parents had to put aside their dreams, [in order] to put food on the table for you.”

M.Hany Hisham

Today theSun published my interview with the author M Hany Hisham who wrote his first novel. Read the full story here:

Headline: Journey Of A Lifetime 
By Bissme S

TRAVELLING can be a wonderful balm for a wounded heart. M. Hany Hisham captures this situation perfectly in his debut novel Antara Langit, Bumi Dan Dua Hati. 
His story centres on a Malaysian woman named Illyani Izhar who embarks on a journey across Europe. Some of the countries she visits include Holland, Belgium, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. 
However, Illyani is no mere adventurer. All of this is just a screen for the turmoil in her life. As a teenager, Illyana lost her mother to cancer, and since then, her relationship with her father has deteriorated. 
She is also sexually harassed at work, and develops a phobia of men. But instead of running from her problems, Illyani began her journey intending to sort out the mess in her life. 
During our interview, it became clear that Hany and his heroine share some similarities. 
“Most authors draw inspiration from their own lives, and I am no different,” he admits. 
Just as Illyani lost her mother to cancer, Hany lost his own father to the disease. 
“I was only 14 when my father passed away,” recalls the 38-year-old author, who was born and raised in Kuala Terengganu. 
“A young boy needs a father figure in his life. But I [was] lucky [to be] the seventh of nine children, and my older siblings helped me cope with my father’s death.” 
Another similarity between Hany and Illyani is that Hany loves travelling, too. 
“I [have] wanted to see the world since I was a young boy,” he says. 
Sadly, he came from a poor family and did not have the money to travel. 
“I used to be jealous of my cousins who could easily visit Kuala Lumpur,” he remembers. 
“When one of my older brothers got a job in Kuala Lumpur, I visited him and could stay in his apartment.” 
While his brother was busy working, Hany made his own plans to explore the cosmopolitan city by himself. 
And when another of his brothers got a scholarship to study in the United Kingdom, Hany kept all the pictures that his brother sent from the country. 
“I made a vow to visit the United Kingdom one day,” he says. 
Years later, once Hany started a career as an engineer in the oil and gas company, he was finally able to fulfil his longtime dream of travelling. 
The first place he visited was Bali, Indonesia. To date, he has visited 25 countries. 
“The beauty of the world is difficult to ignore,” he says. 
Hany said, however, that travelling is not always pleasant and beautiful. “Sometimes, you feel lonely and vulnerable when you are travelling,” he says. 
“You will miss your family and your friends very much. The only person you can depend on is yourself. 
“[While travelling], you get the chance to re-examine your relationship with everyone, including God. Sometimes, you will come across some people who will try to cheat you, and that makes you feel intimidated.” 
Travelling also turned him into a storyteller. He started a blog to record what he saw while visiting these foreign countries. 
“I wanted to capture my emotions in words, and write about the experiences I [could not find] in my own country,” he says. 
In 2015, as the oil and gas industry was going through some challenging times, Hany decided to take a chance at becoming a fulltime author. 
“I always had an active imagination when I was a kid,” he says. 
“I always wanted to tell stories. I have always wanted to be an author.” 
Instead of writing a travelogue, Hany decided to blend fact with fiction and hence, Antara Langit, Bumi Dan Dua Hati was born. All the travel ancedotes in the novel were based on his own experiences. 
“I want my novel to be inspirational, and spread the message of hope and [promise of] a better tomorrow to the readers,” he says. He is already working on his second novel, and readers can expect travel to be an important elements in his new novel as well. 
“You are never the same person after you’ve returned from your trips,” he says. 
“Travelling changes your view of the world.”  

Gadis Jalan Burmah

Sharifah Aleysha, Farah Rani and Ashraf Zain talks  to theSun about theatre production  Gadis Jalan Burmah. The interview was published today.

Headline: An Emotional Roller Coaster 
By Bissme

You will be laughing, crying and smiling. You will also be angry. At times, you feel like you are in love; then next moment are facing heartbreak. 
Welcome to the world of Kartini Shuib, a 42-year-old former air stewardess, and the subject of the one-woman stage play Gadis Jalan Burmah. The play is renowned for running the audience through the gamut of emotions. 
Written by actor and writer Redza Minhat, the comedy drama show was first performed in 2006 with Soefira Jaafar playing Kartini under the direction of David Lim. 
Two years later, it was restaged with Sherry Al-Hadad in the role and Megat Shahriza directing.  Now, the 90-minute play is staged for the third time from this Thursday to Sunday at Kotak (Five Arts Centre Studio) in Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Kuala Lumpur. 
Directed by Ashraf Zain, it will feature actress Farah Rani as Kartini. The play opens with Kartini in her kitchen, baking her own birthday cake. As she makes the cake, she recites a monologue about her life. 
Everyone is telling her that it is about time she settles down, and she contemplates going on a date with Kassim Rahman, an insurance salesman whom her mother has chosen for her. She also recalls some of the relationships she has had, including with a pilot, a  veterinarian, and an American expat. 
When asked why he chose this play to restage yet again, Ashraf, who is also a freelance  actor and scriptwriter, said: “The script was written 10 years ago but the issues are still relevant today. 
“Kartini is a free-spirited person and she is determined to live her life the way she wants. Of course, her journey is not an easy one. There is always pressure from society [to] c onform, and if you are  different, you’re punished.”  
Ashraf also laments the fact that there are few scripts out there which highlight strong female c haracters like Gadis Jalan Burmah. 
For Farah, the role of Kartini is just the latest in a line of memorable stage roles she played, including Melur in Parah, and Maznah in  Nadirah. 
For her, Gadis Jalan Burmah is a well constructed one woman play. 
“The audience will see [Kartini’s] strength and her vulnerability,” says Farah, adding that good stories like this always stand the test of time. 
“I am glad we are re-staging this production, because we are exposing the play to a new  generation of audience who has not seen the work.”     
Besides playing Kartini, Farah will be playing 20 other minor characters in the play, including Kartini’s m other, aunties and her boyfriends. 
“This is the most difficult thing I have done in my career,” the actress says. 
“If I can pull this off, I will be very pleased with myself.” 
The show is being produced by Sharifah Aleysha, who was drawn to the project by the story’s strong feminist angle. 
“I’m one person who does not enjoy it when a man writes about a woman,” says the actress, who recently had success with her play Tiga, which she directed and wrote. 
"When a man writes about a female character, she is either a slut or a nun. She is either too good or too bad. Most of them do not choose to write about women [who come in] shades of grey.” 
Previously, the only male writer whom she feels has done  justice to female characters is director and playwright  Namron. Now, she has found similar traits in Gadis Jalan Burmah’s writer Redza. 
Sharifah points out that Kartini is not portrayed as strong all the time, as the character also suffers from self doubts over her choices.  “I get annoyed with Kartini when she goes through such doubts,” she says. 
“But you cannot be strong all the time. A woman has to embrace all her emotions.”  
What strikes Sharifah most about the play is the loneliness that Kartini feels in her journey to be true to herself. 
“She can’t see eye-to-eye with her mother, her relatives, her friends and her ex boyfriends, and sometimes, that can make you feel lonely."