OBITUARY: Yasmin Ahmad, the film legend
NST Online
2009/07/26
Faridul Anwar Farinordin
SUBANG JAYA: Through film maker Yasmin Ahmad’s lens, we are all the same regardless of colour and creed. And it was this picture of love, solidarity and unity that accompanied her to her final resting place.
Yasmin, who was laid to rest at Muslim Cemetery in USJ SS23 at noon today, played her role for the last time as the visionary director when her family members, friends and those whose lives she has touched and inspired thronged to pay their last respect as one big family.
The scene at the mosque in SS19 could easily have been something out of her own critically-acclaimed films and award-winning TV commercials, where love transcends cultural barriers (starting from her 2004 feature film debut Sepet) and that there is always hope for a better tomorrow.
Her big-hearted optimism on celluloid and small screens, painted against Malaysia’s multi-racial background, will be a legacy that will continue to live on.
Just like the themes of her awe-inspiring works, she will always be remembered for her love, faith, perseverance, determination, compassion, forgiveness and that one-of-a- kind joie de vivre.
Those who have met the vivacious director and had the pleasure of being in her company or just by visiting her blog (www.yasminthesto... would see that this self-professed “annoying cynic” is nothing but a bundle of joy.
She loved to laugh and always managed to see the humour behind every topic no matter how serious it was. Her ability to translate them beautifully on her films was a rare gift, although there were those who missed her points completely and judged her harshly for them.
During the filming of her fourth film Muallaf in Ipoh two years ago, nasty and insensitive criticisms were hurled at her both professionally and personally. The episode which al most broke her spirit only gave her a bigger heart to forgive and an unbeatable determination.
Yasmin once said she never set out to convey certain messages in her movies. All she wanted to do is “tell stories from the heart”, drawing much inspiration from Iranian film- maker Majid Majidi with themes that praise the glory of God.
To her, if an audience member is touched by her stories, then she has done her job.
And what a job well done. In just six years, Yasmin had bagged major awards at renowned international film fes tivals from Hong Kong and Berlin to San Francisco and Cannes, with some festival programmes even featuring a retrospective of her works.
Her simple stories on love, friendship and family as told in the 2007 Mukhsin and the multi-award winning TV com mercial Tan Hong Ming in Love revived and revitalised the film genre with children playing lead roles.
True to her non-conforming and fearless attitude, Yasmin refused to cash in on the commercial values of the stars in her movies by introducing new talents.
Stars like Sharifah Amani Syed Zainal Rashid Al-Yahya and her sisters Sharifah Aryana and Sharifah Aleysha, Mohd Syafie Naswip, Ng Choo Seong, Pamela Chong and Mahesh Jugal Kishor were discovered in her films, which also gave new creative opportunities to popular singers namely Adibah Noor and Jaclyn Victor.
Yasmin’s fifth film Talentime, unfortunately, was her last tale in her short-lived film-making career (Muallaf, which received rave reviews abroad, was never released in cinemas here. Her other films included the 2006 Gubra and the telemovie Rabun in 2003).
Goodbye Yasmin, and may you rest in peace. We can only describe our loss with the following song lyrics I Go by Pete Teo, taken from the movie Talentime:
“So long, fare thee well,
The dancer and the dancing days have taken leave and fell,
So turn down this bed of stone,
Quench me with the deadly nightshade from the rose that you belong,
The long December rain is falling now
Running down on streets to nowhere
Music is my life you're my sweetest nightingale
But I can't hear it here no more
And I go
I go...
Hush now, don't shake or break
Words have fallen silent like soldiers to the grave
No matter what they do or say
Lay me on the sleepy meadow by the tracks upon your face”
Alfatihah. |