JAKARTA - Celebrity Ratu Felisha returns to play in a horror film produced by the production house BASE Entertainment entitled Malam Pencabut Nyawa. In the film, which will start showing from May 22, Ratu will compete with several young stars such as Devano Danendra, Keisya Levronka, and Mikha Hernan.
In an exclusive interview with VOI, Ratu tried to tell a more complete story about the character she plays named Sukma. In general, Ratu said that the figure of Sukma was a shaman who abused her power to fulfill her personal interests.
Sukma also chose not to have a partner throughout her life, but she found a baby lying in a river where the child would later help her in carrying out her profession as a shaman.
"Here I am a powerful shaman named Sukma, but Sukma misuses her power for personal gain which results in evil," she said.
"Actually, I feel a pity for Sukma, it isn't in the movie but Mr. Tata told me how Sukma lived alone, she chose not to have a partner, no children, but she then found and picked up a baby lying in the river. Then Sukma adopted that child. Later he will be Fajar, who will be his son. Later when Fajar already grown up, he served Sukma because Sukma was a shaman, she needed help, like for example, what flowers to get, what keris to get, so the adopted son was the one who helped Sukma," added Ratu.
Having a story set in Javanese culture, Ratu admitted that she had difficulty pronouncing several dialogues that required her to use Javanese. She admitted that she had to repeat one word in Javanese many times in order to sound natural when filming.
It's not just dialogue in Javanese that is a challenge for this 41 year old woman, playing a character with a Javanese background requires Ratu to have the same gestures as a Javanese woman. It's not surprising that during the process of embodying the character, or reading the script, Ratu had to take part in a dance workshop so that her body looked flexible like a Javanese woman.
"The most difficult thing is having dialogue in Javanese, even though it's not much, but I'm afraid it will sound unnatural, so I keep practicing Javanese over and over again," said Ratu Felisha.
"So it's like this, I feel like when I'm reading, I feel like I'm less flexible, maybe because I go to the gym every day, so what's more, my body is more (stiff), while Sukma the Shaman character is so flexible, so that's why we have dance practice and all kinds of things like that," said Ratu Felisha.
"Yes, that's why we have coaching with Mr. Agus Kencrot, right? Sukma speaks very slowly, she's lilting, but I have a loud mouth, Sukma is also like that, she talks like a Solo bride, she's slow," she explained.
Uniquely, Ratu Felisha, who knew that the character of Sukma came from the original character of a mountain goddess in the Jogja area, she practiced her own 'spell' which helped her understand Sukma's character.
"So at that time I had a chance to chat with Mr. Tata, with Agus Kencrot too, so in Kidul there is a goddess, basically she is the guardian of a mountain in Jogja, I forgot what her name was, so I had time to browse about her too. Anyway, it's very helpful when you have put on your wardrobe, all kinds of make up, it's like it just goes in like that, Sukma. Every time I take it, I'm like 'Sukma, please come in. I've given up', because people said there was a real guardian goddess. The guard in Gunung Kidul," explained Ratu Felisha.
However, Ratu could not hide her gratitude for being able to get the character of Sukma in this movie because she felt that during her career acting in horror films she had never had a character like Sukma.
“I've never had a character like this before. I'm afraid I'm going to slip up. Never been a tut, this is just being a tut once. There will be a change in Sukma's character when she was still a shaman and when she became a tut," she concluded.
Keep Learning and Adapting
Ratu Felisha is often known as one of the actress who is regularly involved in horror films. Feli, her nickname, started her career as a horror actor from the film Kuntilanak (2006) with Julie Estelle. Now it doesn't feel like she has had a career in acting for two decades, aka 20 years.
Even so, Ratu can still exist in the world of Indonesian cinema and is still trusted to be involved in big Indonesian films such as films Seperti Dendam, Rindu Harus Dibayar Tuntas (2021) and the film Malam Pencabut Nyawa (2024).
“My first horror was Kuntilanak with Julie Estelle, the director at that time was Rizal Mantovani from there, what year was it, it was a long time ago, 20 years ago. After that, Mr. Nayato released horror films such as Hantu Perawan Jeruk Purut, Hantu Pocong versus Kuntilanak. Yes, horror, which only takes a week, two weeks to shoot, it's like catching up to broadcast, so finally I returned to the current horror," said Ratu Felisha.
Seeing its continued existence, Feli said that this could possibly happen because of several commitments that she continues to admit to this day. Firstly, a commitment to remain humble in carrying out her career and enjoy every process or journey.
"You know, I'm not an ambitious type, I prefer the journey. So I don't look for goals, but rather enjoy the journey. Yeah, maybe it's not good to be someone who's not that ambitious, but I feel more comfortable with who I am now, I'm never like 'Okay, I have to get this trophy, that trophy', I never think about it like that so I just enjoy the process," said Ratu Felisha.
Apart from trying to enjoy every adventure and journey in her career, Feli feels that adapting and maintaining a humble attitude and being willing to learn is also the key to her being able to continue to exist in the world of Indonesian cinema. Feli admitted that she was amazed by the current generation's acting which looks more natural than in the past.
"I'm really happy, in my opinion, the kids nowadays, that means they're all cool. I still want to learn from these Gen Z kids, right? I feel like my generation, well, it's not like I'm saying which one is better, which one is worst, it's not the same. It's just the way they present it. In my opinion, Generation Z is different from my generation," said Ratu Felisha.
"Gen Zs are more natural and don't act like that, lol, because of my generation, they're not bad, but they're more like we're more deep, like when they say they're still insistent, they still have emotions. It's like that, if the Gen Zs can act like people who don't act like that, that's why I said, 'You all act so cool', I still have a lot to learn from Gen Z, so I can be as flawless as that," she added.
Having served as an actress in Indonesian cinema for two decades, Ratu Felisha admits that she doesn't want to stop from the world that has made her name, but she also no longer has dreams that she wants to pursue. She just wants to continue to entertain her fans as long as she can still entertain.
"Yes, you still have to follow the developments. I just feel really grateful that I'm still in this industry until now, right? It's been almost 2 decades since I was 20, now I'm on it," she added.
"Well, that's it, I'm not ambitious, I'm less ambitious, I'm the type who doesn't have goals, to win this trophies and that trophies, no. I just enjoy the journey, just the process. No (retirement), please, if I become a grandmother I can still play, as a grandmother," said Ratu Felisha, closing the interview with VOI.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
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