Host Helmy builds a career on hard work<\/p>\n
Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Some people may have grown bored of Siapa Berani (Who Dares?),
\nwhich airs live weekdays at 8 a.m. on Indosiar television
\nstation.<\/p>\n
But not so for millions of viewers across the country, as well
\nas the hundreds of groups that sign up every week to become
\ncontestants on the general knowledge quiz show.<\/p>\n
After more than 220 episodes, the quiz show is still highly
\npopular, which amazes even the show's creator and co-host Helmy
\nYahya.<\/p>\n
\"I think it's a miracle. Especially as I offered this show to
\nseveral TV stations and they turned it down. Indosiar finally
\naccepted, and look at it now,\" he said after a recent show.<\/p>\n
Helmy, 38, said that the strength of the show probably lay in
\nits content.<\/p>\n
\"It's been a long time since there was a TV show about science
\nand general knowledge. People like it, you know. Indonesian
\npeople actually have a thirst for knowledge. It's just up to us
\nhow to make it interesting and watchable,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The interview took place in the TV station's cafeteria, where
\nthe show's contestants, still in their costumes, milled around,
\npicking up their prizes and once in a while asking Helmy to
\nappear in a photograph with them.<\/p>\n
Helmy admitted that he got a bit bored with his routine of
\nhosting the show every morning with TV actress Alya Rohali.<\/p>\n
\"Every morning it's like ... oh nooo ... not again,\" he
\nlaughed.<\/p>\n
\"But as soon as I meet the contestants, it's all gone. Seeing
\ntheir spirit makes mine rise again.\"<\/p>\n
The popularity of the show has established Helmy as a TV show
\ncreator with the Midas touch. Through his production house PT
\nTriwarsana, he has produced a dozen popular shows on several TV
\nstations, such as Asal (Whatever), Mimpi Kali Ye (What A Dream,
\nan Indonesian version of MTV's Fanatic) and Kuis Joshua.<\/p>\n
He started his career in show business back in 1988 when jazz
\nmusician Ireng Maulana asked Helmy to manage him after they had
\nworked together several times in organizing jazz events.<\/p>\n
Through Ireng, Helmy met quiz show queen Ani Sumadi, the force
\nbehind popular quiz shows such as Berpacu Dalam Melodi (Racing in
\nMelody).<\/p>\n
It was from Ani that Helmy learned to produce TV shows.<\/p>\n
The brother of producer\/singer\/emcee Tantowi Yahya is a man of
\nmany talents. He is the manager of child entertainer Joshua and
\nauthor of five novels including Blok M, which has been filmed. He
\nalso sings.<\/p>\n
His success goes back to his days in elementary school when he
\nalways got the highest grades. After graduating from high school
\nin his hometown of Palembang, South Sumatra, Helmy went to the
\nBogor Agriculture Institute (IPB), where he was admitted without
\nhaving to take a test, but later on transferred to the National
\nAccounting Institute (STAN), which offered him a scholarship.<\/p>\n
\"My father was very old back then. I had a feeling that he
\nwouldn't see me graduate. So, I looked for a scholarship and got
\none from STAN. It turned out I was right. Two years later, my
\nfather died.\"<\/p>\n
Studying accounting, he said, was something that he really
\nhated. He actually wanted to study at medical or journalism
\nschool.<\/p>\n
\"But I'm a very, very serious person. And finally I graduated
\nas the best student,\" he said.<\/p>\n
After graduation, Helmy received a scholarship from Miami
\nUniversity in the United States and completed his master's in
\nonly 10 months.<\/p>\n
Everything seems to have come easy to him, but it was really
\nthe fruit of his hard work.<\/p>\n
As the son of a street vendor, Helmy said that his childhood
\nand teenage life were very modest.<\/p>\n
\"I had a very happy childhood, even though my family was
\nrather poor. I barely got pocket money back then. And my shoes
\nhad holes in them. But those conditions taught me to be tough,
\nindependent and a hard worker,\" said the youngest of five
\nsiblings.<\/p>\n
Since he was a teenager, Helmy did any job from which he could
\nearn money.<\/p>\n
\"But mostly, I earned money from competitions. Any competition
\nat all, and I always won. I won scholarships and I was even able
\nto buy my own motorcycle,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Helmy's next project is to make an album of the traditional
\nMelayu Deli music of North Sumatra.<\/p>\n
\"My fans are mostly housewives. So I target them. If not
\nMelayu, I would sing those Latin soap opera style songs,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\"I work in the marketing field. I have to know my market, and
\nthe right strategy to get customers.\"<\/p>\n
Another project is making movies as he is now the marketing
\ndirector of State Film Production (PFN), a state-owned company
\nthat has been in the doldrums in recent years.<\/p>\n
Helmy was the scriptwriter for the movie Joshua, Oh Joshua,
\nwhich was supposed to replicate the success of Petualangan
\nSherina (Sherina's Adventure) but failed.<\/p>\n
\"Yes, I must admit that I failed on that film. But film is
\nactually a collective work. We had many difficulties at that
\ntime. But at least the film reached the break-even point,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
With PFN, Helmy plans to revive Si Unyil, which aired every
\nSunday on state-owned television station TVRI as the most popular
\npuppet show of the 1980s.<\/p>\n
He also urged people to revive Indonesian films through PFN.<\/p>\n
\"I don't know, but I see new Indonesian films and I'm, like,
\nwhy do they have to be confusing? Do our movies have to be that
\nway?\"<\/p>\n
\"So, I reckoned, let's make a commercial movie which is of
\ncourse, artistic. But first, let's just make a movie that people
\nwould like, that people would watch. Something like Petualangan
\nSherina,\" he added.<\/p>\n
Helmy laughed when asked if there was sibling rivalry with
\nTantowi, although he said he had a \"wilder\" personality than his
\nolder brother.<\/p>\n
\"We support each other. And we work in different fields. Tanto
\nis more of an event organizer, while I'm in TV shows.\"<\/p>",
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