Exclusive, Ibnu Jamil Is Selective About His Role As A Legacy For His Descendants

Ibnu Jamil (Photo: Savic Rabos, DI: Raga/VOI)

JAKARTA – Actor Ibnu Jamil also enlivened the political year by starring in the film Kejarlah Janji, directed by Garin Nugroho. In this film, Ibnu Jamil, who plays the role of a village head named Janji Upaya, will compete with Cut Mini and Shenina Cinnamon. The plan for this film to be released is in 2024.

What is special about this film is the form of collaboration between the General Election Commission (KPU) and director Garin Nugroho as a form of welcoming the election year in 2024. On one occasion, Ibnu Jamil tried to explain to VOI about his character as a village head in the film Kejarlah Janji. He admitted that Janji Upaya is a leader who is very careful and tries to always be honest with his people.

“I play the role of Mr. Janji, his full name is Janji Upaya. He is a leader in a village, or can be called Mr. Village Head. He leads very carefully, and tries to be as honest as possible. "An honest leader, a leader who tries to please all his citizens, but perhaps he also forgets that among the many activities or events carried out as village head, not all of them can make his citizens happy," said Ibnu Jamil at the VOI MEDIA office, Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, recently.

Ibnu Jamil (Photo: Savic Rabos, DI: Raga/VOI)

Acting as a village head in a village in one of the areas in Yogyakarta made Ibnu Jamil confused about looking for references. The reason is, Ibnu, who has always been in the capital throughout his life, rarely meets village heads. Finally, Ibnu tried to take advantage of advances in social media to research and look for references for village heads in villages today.

Not only through social media, Ibnu Jamil, who during the filming process also competed with local artists in Yogyakarta, tried to find out through casual chats. Little by little he found out about the figure of the village head in each village they lived in.

"Especially if I lived in Central Jakarta to look for the village head, like that, there would definitely be differences, right, because we set it in a village and we actually filmed it in Jogjakarta, and the community is definitely different from the one where I live. Now. "So like it or not, my observation is that the easiest thing is to use YouTube," continued Ibnu Jamil.

"It's not a big deal. But if there are small difficulties, they can be overcome by friends there, indeed there are actors who are from Jogja, and artists from Jogja, I consult with them, oh at my place it will be like this, at my place it'll be like this, sometimes even wearing a sarong and still relaxed. For example, if not yet in the office or at home," he explained.

Ibnu Jamil (Photo: Savic Rabos, DI: Raga/VOI)

But, according to Ibnu Jamil, there are also village heads who are always neat, when they leave the house they maintain their authority, those who really want to meet the people are neat.

"And one thing I'm trying to take from that observation is that usually the village heads still wear peci, that's what I took, I want to show the religious side of a village head, his religion. There are also those who look trendy, the hair is sleek, there's also stylish thing like that," he continued.

The film Kejarlah Janji was deliberately made by the KPU as a form of campaign for the public to use their voting rights in the 2024 elections properly and correctly. Seeing this, Ibnu felt that this film had its own vision and mission in it. This is ultimately the reason why Ririn Ekawati's husband agreed to play in the film Kejarlah Janji because he wanted to leave a legacy for his children and grandchildren by playing in a film that had a deep message.

"Really, I don't know, yes, in the last few years I have had to instill in myself that if I take a film, it must be long-lasting, so that if one day my children or grandchildren watch it, 'oh grandfather or father have seen this film', so this film is a legacy from me, and my children and grandchildren will be able to watch it," said Ibnu Jamil.

Playing in a film with strong political values turns out not to be a burden for this 42 year old man. Ibnu admits that he is a figure who quite follows news related to politics in Indonesia. However, if he were invited to enter the world of politics himself, Ibnu Jamil would not yet have the courage.

“I happen to really like politics, I'd rather just observe when I get involved in politics, not yet entering. That's it. So, these words are familiar and I know them, but sometimes Mr. Garin says that if you use too many formal words, it's worried whether the residents can understand it? Let's try to find words that are very popular or that can be understood by the people of the village. Adaptation, and always consulted with Mr. Garin," he explained.

Never Bored to Acting

Ibnu Jamil (Photo: Savic Rabos, DI: Raga/VOI)

Ibnu Jamil started his career as an advertising star when he was still studying in the middle semester of college. At first, he had cast for various kinds of advertisements within a year but never got a role. This actually became a motivation for Ibnu who had high curiosity to keep trying until he finally got a role in an advertisement and was able to play in various famous films in Indonesia.

"I started out as an advertising star, a commercial add, so when I was still in college, I was in the middle semester of college, I was casting, I didn't get it for a year, but I don't know why, I'm a curious person, I looked around, 'What's difficult in it? 'Where will this lead?', oh, when I found out, I felt like the key was when I was on camera, it didn't change and I was able to face the battlefield," he said.

"This is what it's like for me on the battlefield, and I can handle it, yes, it's proven that after I can handle it, the work resulting from the casting has already borne fruit, and I can star in advertisements starting from low advertisements, to medium, I got advertisements for famous products, then after that I got an offer to play in a film, I got to play in a film once, after that I went to soap operas, FTV, films," continued Ibnu Jamil.

Even so, this man who loves football said he never thought about entering the world of acting, because initially he wanted to work in an advertising agency that was in line with his major when he was studying, namely advertising. Ibnu also said that none of his family's background came from an artistic family.

Ibnu Jamil (Photo: Savic Rabos, DI: Raga/VOI)

Ibnu Jamil started his career as an advertising star when he was still studying in the middle semester of college. At first, he had cast for various kinds of advertisements within a year but never got a role. This actually became a motivation for Ibnu who had high curiosity to keep trying until he finally got a role in an advertisement and was able to play in various famous films in Indonesia.

"I started out as an advertising star, a commercial add, so when I was still in college, I was in the middle semester of college, I was casting, I didn't get it for a year, but I don't know why, I'm a curious person, I looked around, 'What's difficult in it? 'Where will this lead?', oh, when I found out, I felt like the key was when I was on camera, it didn't change and I was able to face the battlefield," he said.

"This is what it's like for me on the battlefield, and I can handle it, yes, it's proven that after I can handle it, the work resulting from the casting has already borne fruit, and I can star in advertisements starting from low advertisements, to medium, I got advertisements for famous products, then after that I got an offer to play in a film, I got to play in a film once, after that I went to soap operas, FTV, films," continued Ibnu Jamil.

Even so, this man who loves football said he never thought about entering the world of acting, because initially he wanted to work in an advertising agency that was in line with his major when he was studying, namely advertising. Ibnu also said that none of his family's background came from an artistic family.

Ibnu Jamil (Photo: Savic Rabos, DI: Raga/VOI)

“Nothing, I never get bored or tired in the world of acting. I really enjoy this acting art, as I said earlier, basically, if I have taken everything, the first thing I consider is whether I am happy or not, what job will I take? So, that's what I used to instill when I wanted to take a job," answered Ibnu Jamil.

This is what ultimately made Ibnu Jamil not think about stopping or withdrawing from the world of acting. He said that as long as he still needed a role in a film, he would be happy to accept it. Apart from that, Ibnu also said that he has no worries about being replaced by young players, because the most important thing for Ibnu Jamil to work in all fields of work is attitude or way of behaving.

“Oh, so on, I think. If it's still needed and still selling and with each other, I'm never afraid of competition or regeneration, as long as we still have the skills, have the attitude, I'm sure it will definitely be looked at, offers will always come. But number one for me is attitude. It's useless to have good skills if the attitude is not good, people will definitely be lazy about working with that person, so because of this, attitude is the key to the world of work," said Ibnu Jamil, closing the conversation with VOI.