Mid-February 1986. On the first night of arriving back after leaving Morgantown. Joined the newfound friends - the TTDI film crew gang - for a Ramli Sirap performance at the Hard Rock Café, Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI)
One conversation topic in the car, before reaching the Café, was about a friend who’s not with us at that time. He went to the birthday party of Kak Yong’s daughter instead (I’ve met him at the house earlier)
They were talking about how Abang Din was a little bit upset at that moment. His girlfriend was going to be sent overseas by her father, to keep her away from Abang Din. The girl was on the cover of the Remaja magazine that I browsed through at the house earlier. She was a real looker (it was an early 1986 Remaja issue).
It was very hard to imagine, how in heaven did such a hot and glamorous girl could fall for Abang Din; at that time was a gangly dude with a very crew cut hair. I guess my understanding of the opposite sex’s needs and requirements were as shallow as it could get, then.
But that was not all. They said that they wouldn’t worry about it that much if they were Abang Din. Why? Because they said it was an open secret then that Raja Ema and Erma Fatima were clamoring for Abang Din’s affection. Those two glamour ladies, and Abang Din? They gotta be kidding me. Must be some sort of a real big-time lady-killer, that Abang Din.
How was I to know it was not Abang Din that they were talking about; it was Badin that I had misheard.
Lost contact with that TTDI film crew buddies after three months since my arrival back from the States. Several years later, a story about a famous movie cameraman marrying a fellow artist, Erma Fatima, came out in the media. It took me a long while to realize it, but that guy was definitely the Abang Din / Badin that I came to know for a very short period (three days only) previously.
It was the long hair and chubbier profile that derailed my recognition. Badaruddin Azmi was that Abang Din / Badin, the movie cameraman who’s also now a film director / producer.
I did thought about getting back into their circle, a few recent years back. But then, thinking about the years that had caught on to me, and the number of people that had came into contact with them, I felt that it’s not worth it. They would not remember me, let alone recognize me. Just sufficient to know that I used to be tight with some of the guys that had a hand in keeping our entertainment scene as it is today.
Been wondering - had I stayed with them and tried my luck in their line of career, could I be like Aznil or Din Beramboi? Or maybe like, Jalaluddin Hassan?
Monday, October 4, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
TTDI Film Crew Buddies Part I
Still on leaving WVU in 1986…
The flight to KL after an overnight transit at Narita Airport, Tokyo, was a MAS flight, so the mood improved somewhat. Gloomy and miserable were replaced by just being uncertain and slightly confused, but more receptive to the surroundings. I guess that was why I got to be buddy-buddy with a bubbly and a highly energetic guy, on that flight home.
The new friend was a movie/film editor. Fendi (his real call name) was returning after the final processing of the then new Malay movie “Kembara… Seniman Jalanan” in a Tokyo film lab. He said the movie was going to be a hit, with some controversial issues and plots. I was actually very skeptical - of who he was, and the movie quality. I guess after spending the whole flight home together, it was (being skeptical) was uncalled for. And from a later perspective, the movie was as he said it would be.
I never really revealed to him that I was not actually one of those Penganggur Kehormat’s (Honorary Jobless, returning graduates still looking for jobs) that he thought I was. I was partially that, in a sense. So, just after reaching Malaysian airspace, I loosely remarked that I wasn’t planning to go home just yet; that I want to stick around in KL for a while to look for job opportunities. As I expected a friend would do, he invited me to lepak (hang around) at his place while I look for jobs and a place of my own. Said that all his buddies are “alright”. I gladly accepted.
His friends picked him up at the Subang Airport, and I tagged along in the car to their place. They all were film crew guys in some capacity or another. They stayed in the top floor of a double-storey terrace house at Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI). The landlady occupied the ground floor main bedroom but they have access to the living room and kitchen.
Along the way from the airport, in the car, they were talking about what to do that night; whether to go to a birthday party of Kak Yong’s daughter, or to the Hard Rock Café for a performance by Ramli Sarip.
We ended up going to the Hard Rock Café for the Ramli Sarip mini concert later that night – my first night back in Malaysia after returning from USA. We rode in two cars, one of which was going to be crashed in a stunt for a film shooting the next day.
I stayed with Fendi and his TTDI film crew buddies for only three days, but felt like I’d gone through a lot with them. Got to know a little bit about the insides of film industries in Malaysia, about the makings of TV and radio commercials, and a wee bit of understanding on the motivations and drives of the film crew buddies.
There was a commercial a few years later, when I saw Fendi and his elder brother pitching the benefits of a certain bank on TV. It was a short-lived commercial, so most people might not remember it. That brother of his was the closest with me during my TTDI stay. Highly likely that several of them had been in other TV commercials or some bit parts in movies, that I failed to recognize.
A former WVU mate came to pick me up from the TTDI film crew house on the third day of my arrival back from USA, to stay with him instead at a place in Section 14, PJ. Met him at Daya Bumi, when making some arrangement with Petronas HR. He said it was just felt wrong for me to be with “strangers”, in my condition then, when there were a lot of old friends around.
The TTDI film crew buddies were new friends, but definitely were not strangers. In fact, they took in a stranger like me into their circle as if they had known me for years.
The flight to KL after an overnight transit at Narita Airport, Tokyo, was a MAS flight, so the mood improved somewhat. Gloomy and miserable were replaced by just being uncertain and slightly confused, but more receptive to the surroundings. I guess that was why I got to be buddy-buddy with a bubbly and a highly energetic guy, on that flight home.
The new friend was a movie/film editor. Fendi (his real call name) was returning after the final processing of the then new Malay movie “Kembara… Seniman Jalanan” in a Tokyo film lab. He said the movie was going to be a hit, with some controversial issues and plots. I was actually very skeptical - of who he was, and the movie quality. I guess after spending the whole flight home together, it was (being skeptical) was uncalled for. And from a later perspective, the movie was as he said it would be.
I never really revealed to him that I was not actually one of those Penganggur Kehormat’s (Honorary Jobless, returning graduates still looking for jobs) that he thought I was. I was partially that, in a sense. So, just after reaching Malaysian airspace, I loosely remarked that I wasn’t planning to go home just yet; that I want to stick around in KL for a while to look for job opportunities. As I expected a friend would do, he invited me to lepak (hang around) at his place while I look for jobs and a place of my own. Said that all his buddies are “alright”. I gladly accepted.
His friends picked him up at the Subang Airport, and I tagged along in the car to their place. They all were film crew guys in some capacity or another. They stayed in the top floor of a double-storey terrace house at Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI). The landlady occupied the ground floor main bedroom but they have access to the living room and kitchen.
Along the way from the airport, in the car, they were talking about what to do that night; whether to go to a birthday party of Kak Yong’s daughter, or to the Hard Rock Café for a performance by Ramli Sarip.
We ended up going to the Hard Rock Café for the Ramli Sarip mini concert later that night – my first night back in Malaysia after returning from USA. We rode in two cars, one of which was going to be crashed in a stunt for a film shooting the next day.
I stayed with Fendi and his TTDI film crew buddies for only three days, but felt like I’d gone through a lot with them. Got to know a little bit about the insides of film industries in Malaysia, about the makings of TV and radio commercials, and a wee bit of understanding on the motivations and drives of the film crew buddies.
There was a commercial a few years later, when I saw Fendi and his elder brother pitching the benefits of a certain bank on TV. It was a short-lived commercial, so most people might not remember it. That brother of his was the closest with me during my TTDI stay. Highly likely that several of them had been in other TV commercials or some bit parts in movies, that I failed to recognize.
A former WVU mate came to pick me up from the TTDI film crew house on the third day of my arrival back from USA, to stay with him instead at a place in Section 14, PJ. Met him at Daya Bumi, when making some arrangement with Petronas HR. He said it was just felt wrong for me to be with “strangers”, in my condition then, when there were a lot of old friends around.
The TTDI film crew buddies were new friends, but definitely were not strangers. In fact, they took in a stranger like me into their circle as if they had known me for years.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
More Than a Year After...
Hmm, last posting date was March 13th, 2009? That's more than a year ago. Must be after coming back from Petronas' Organizational Behavior seminar at Westin Hotel, KL.
Nobody read my blog, anyway. It's just like a wall to put my private musings. But who knows, years from now somebody could pick this up, and turn into something other than just a private wall. I wouldn't count on it.
Most people are tied up at Facebook anyway. More privacy for me.
Nobody read my blog, anyway. It's just like a wall to put my private musings. But who knows, years from now somebody could pick this up, and turn into something other than just a private wall. I wouldn't count on it.
Most people are tied up at Facebook anyway. More privacy for me.
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