The Great Storyteller: Yasmin Ahmad

“If you want somebody to change so much, what is it that you love about that person?”
― Yasmin Ahmad

She's someone who I've looked up to since young, understanding nothing about life and people.  And the correlation between the two - Unity.
She's one who I never met in my life, but the little things that she taught me along way has given my life an impact, so abrupt yet so huge that I didn't see what was coming at first.
She opened a window and showed me the love that blooms from a sincere heart, and the kindness that draws no boundaries.
Her name is Yasmin Ahmad.

I am a girl who enjoy spending lots of time in front of the television, I used to love HK dramas, then Korean dramas, Blockbuster movies, never commercials that intended to brainwash us to buy products and trying to convince young mind like mine that beauty must be in the form of flawless skin, untangled smooth silky hair and perfect body figure.

I hated commercials, until I watched hers.
The message that she was trying to convey through the screen wasn't like typical commercials that we got numb of.
I'd rather put it like this, she tells a story, and a good storyteller she is.
The stories that she had told were so short that you wouldn't believe how great they were until you gave yourself a few moments to lay back and, think.

During major festive seasons like Chinese New Year, Hari Raya and Deepavali we have in Malaysia, it had been an untold custom for my family to anticipate her work to be released.
As I recalled, most of her works were filmed for Petronas, but that didn't matter anyway.
I vividly remembered how excited Dad and Mom'd be when me and brother yelled: "New Petronas advert is out again!"
They'd stop what they were doing in hands, and sit down together with us.
We'd talk about the story for quite some time.



These are some of my favourites:

Chinese New Year Ad - Rich Son Poor Son

Hari Raya Ad - Father

Malaysia's Indepence Day - Tan Hong Ming's Love

Despite being a good commercial director, she actually filmed her own movies as well.

Films:
- Sepet (Slit Eyes) (2004)
- Gubra (Anxiety) (2006)
- Mukhsin (2007)
- Muallaf (The Convert) (2008)
- Talentime (2009)

I watched each and every one of her works except for Muallaf (The Convert), Dad couldn't find it in the web.  

She made me think and question myself all the time regarding religious and racial issues that have always been growling tides for Malaysians - Many see the problems coming, many speak of them, but never that one person who stands up and gives solutions.

She was the one brave enough to bring these up afloat, and was awfully criticised by some people who failed to be open-hearted enough to accept the true problems we have as Malaysians.

Behind the promises and compromises of the politicians, what else are we.

Also, there were people who blackmailed her for being born as a "Khunsa" (being a man and woman at the same time), it was a shame on them.

Shocked and delighted I was when I saw this on Google Homepage this morning, clicked in and read more about Yasmin in Wikipedia to know that it was her birthday today.

As I got to know her more, she was more than just a film director, writer, or a scriptwriter.
I kind of expected that she was a graduate from filming or somewhat related, but no,

[ Extracted from Wikipedia : Yasmin Ahmad ]

She was a graduate in arts majoring in politics and psychology from Newcastle University in England, she worked as a trainee banker in 1982 for two weeks then working for IBM as a marketing representative while moonlighting as a blues singer and pianist by night. Yasmin began her career in advertising as a copywriter at Ogilvy & Mather and in 1993 she moved to Leo Burnett as joint creative director with Ali Mohammed, eventually rising to executive creative director at the firm's Kuala Lumpur branch.

On 7th January 2014, Google remembers Yasmin Ahmad by publishing a doodle with her image. This is the first time a Malaysian figure is honoured on its search engine www.google.com.




A brief abstract of her past careers flickered my thought on my future career path that I've been consistently worried about.
People used to tell me this:

"The things that you've been studying do not fully determine who you are and who you'll be in the future.  They're barely milestones of your life, stepping stones, to make it frank; Only the fools tell you they are."

I used to not believe in this, bla bla crappppp.
But somehow I'm getting some sense now :)

It was a loss for all Malaysians as Yasmin passed away in 2009 due to a stroke.

She had so many dreams to be chased and fulfilled, she promised us a better Malaysia.

I was very depressed when I received the news that she collapsed, I prayed that the stroke was minor and she'd recover to normal so she could complete her undisclosed project.

Still, she had a better path to be opted for.  

She left.

I remembered myself refreshing web pages to confirm her death;

I remembered watching her commercials and movies again and again.

Before I end this post, I'd like to share one more commercial of hers, the one that never failed to make me cry every time I watch it.

Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) of Singapore - Funeral

"In the end, it's these small things that you remember, little imperfections that make them perfect for you.
So to my beautiful children, I hope one day, you too find yourself life partners, who are as beautifully imperfect as your father was, to me."

Dear Yasmin, you are missed.