From Malaysia to Banjar, Hazman Al Idrus' Struggle to Master Local Dialects for the Sake of Fishermen's Role

Ochi Rosdiana and Hazman Al-Idrus (Virgi/VOI)

JAKARTA - Malaysian actor Hazman Al Idrus faces a big challenge when he has to play the character of Rustam, a native fisherman from Kalimantan for the film Kuyank. He had to fight hard to be able to master the language and Banjar dialect which was very foreign to him.

Hazman explained that he had a special method to be able to learn the language. He divided it into several stages, ranging from pronunciation to slang.

"I made several stages to learn Banjar language," he said at the VOI office, Monday, January 19.

The first stage is to familiarize his tongue with the pronunciation of words in the Banjar language.

After that, he translated all his dialogues into Banjar language. He even took the initiative to ask the director to use all his dialogues in full Banjar language.

"I asked the director, 'Can we change everything to Banjar language?' Because when I read it, my role as Rustam is a local resident," he explained.

The last and most difficult stage is to find a non-standard speech style. As a fisherman, his character must be able to speak in a more "casual" everyday language style.

To be able to reach this stage, he learned a lot from the director and other actors who are from Banjar.

"They taught me to help a lot. It's really good to put it in," praised Hazman.

In addition to Hazman Al-Idrus, the film Kuyank will also feature the acting of Rio Dewanto, Ochi Rosdiana, Barry Prima and others.