Blanco's Bali affair gets televised

By K. Basrie

UBUD, Bali (JP): It was the mid 1950s. A vessel from Singapore sailed through the Malacca Strait bound for this tourist resort island. Among the passengers was a 23-year-old Spanish artist, Don Antonio Blanco.

He read books to kill time. One day, Blanco felt asleep with a book on Bali on his lap. He dreamed that he met a beautiful fairy who would be the main model for his future paintings.

When he told the captain his story, Blanco got a laugh as a reply. The captain suggested that he forget his dream and go to America. Bali was no ordinary island, the captain said.

But Blanco didn't want to believe the captain until he stepped ashore at Buleleng port, Singaraja. He was disappointed as the island did not live up to his dreams or glowing descriptions he read in books. He decided to take the captain's advice and sail to the States.

But before he carried through with his plan, Blanco met a local man called Ida Bagus, who asked him to make a trip to Ubud.

He accepted the offer. It was during this trip that Blanco discovered the real Bali, its culture, the Balinese and their amazing rituals.

In Ubud, he met a Balinese young woman who reminded him of the fairy in his dream. The artist invited her to become his model. As time went by, the two fell in love but confronted many problems due to their different cultural backgrounds.

Their relationship reached its apex when the young woman, Ni Ronji, became pregnant. While she was condemned by her parents, relatives and friends, Blanco was unconcerned. He kept on painting and became a renowned impressionist.

They faced more difficulties but eventually Blanco and Ronji married. In time, their relationship was accepted in the Ubud community.

Reconstruction

Forty-seven years later, the true story of the love adventure and career of the Spanish painter, who is noted for his penchant for colorful clothes and berets, is reconstructed again in the TV drama Api Cinta Antonio Blanco (Blanco, The Color of Love) by PT Jatayu Cakrawala Film & Video.

Primary shooting began last Saturday evening after a ceremony in the garden of Blanco's mansion in Campuan, Ubud, a one-and-a- half hour drive from Ngurah Rai Airport.

In the TV drama, expected to be divided into six or eight episodes, Blanco is played by Michael Pas, a film actor from Belgium, and Ronji by I Ketut Melati, a local girl and a newcomer to the film industry.

Ketut replaced actress Dian Nitami, who left due to undisclosed reasons.

Dozens of Bali artists and dancers also play roles in the TV drama.

"The total budget for this film, which could take about two months of shooting, will be between Rp 800 million (over US$325,000) and Rp 1 billion," producer Harry Simon, known for his many quiz shows on TV stations, told The Jakarta Post.

Among the film's sponsors are Bali Cliff hotel, the state- owned Garuda Indonesia airlines and ANteve television station, which is tentatively set to broadcast the series starting in October.

Directed by veteran actress Rima Melati, most shooting will take place in the tourist resort island.

"But it's not easy for us to create Bali as it was 50 years ago," said Rima.

She said trees will be used to camouflage electricity poles fringing a river.

"This drama is meant to expose the beautiful nature and people of Bali, the sincere devotion to arts and faithfulness of love," said Rima.

Blanco, now 67, is one of the most famous foreign painters residing in Bali. Collectors of his paintings include President Soeharto and family, Michael Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor, King Juan Carlos of Spain and international tycoons.

Many of his hundreds of works are portraits of nude women, including young Ronji.

Blanco wants to be buried in Ubud "because my children and grandchildren are all here".

He renounced his Spanish citizenship and became an Indonesian in 1967.

"I'm proud to be an Indonesian. This is now my country and I'm giving my life to this country, specifically to Bali," he says.

As for the "resurrection" of young Blanco and Ronji in the film, Blanco said: "One can play Blanco but not Ronji because for me, there is only one Ronji in this world."

In Ronji's eyes, Blanco is a temperamental husband. "Sometimes he's so kind to me, but on another occasion he could suddenly reprimand me so that I feel I have to go away from him," she told the Post.

It seems that Michael Pas has perfectly assumed Blanco's prickly persona, evident when reporters asked him politely about his acting fee.

"It's none of your business!" was Pas' terse reply.