Not just for laughs with comic actor Mat

Adhi Abhiyasa, Contributor, Jakarta

Anyone who says that the cachet of beautiful faces is the only trick to earn high ratings and commercial benefits should stand corrected right here, right now.

Turn on private TV station TransTV any night of the week from 6:30 p.m., and you will find the reason why we should not let our airwaves become dominated by all those pretty people displaying their ugly acting.

What you get instead are healthy laughs and good times from the modest local sitcom Bajaj Bajuri, telling about the daily life of an ordinary family, consisting of naive bajaj (three- wheeled motorized pedicab) driver Bajuri, his not-too-smart wife (Oneng) and her meddling mother (Emak).

Like all parents, Emak wants her beautiful daughter to land a kind-hearted, good-looking and wealthy man. Alas, Oneng set her heart on Bajuri and married the pot-bellied guy, who works as a bajaj driver to make ends meet.

Emak and Bajuri are embroiled in daily feuds on you-name-it- topics, from the uang arisan (contributions for the monthly communal money pot) to a wedding party. The funny situations that arise from the interaction of these three main characters -- along with the memorable supporting cast of characters, from a vampy neighbor to one who prefaces every statement with "Sorry ..." -- are guaranteed to keep you chuckling right through to the next episode.

It is safe to say the show's fans all over the nation owe their enjoyment to achingly funny Mat Solar aka Nasrullah. The 41-year-old actor knows for sure how to make his comical character of Bajuri create humorous situations without having to grandstand or camp it up, the failing of so many other sitcoms.

According to Nasrullah, serious preparation goes into each episode. During the early episodes, Nasrullah did not even mind playing the role of scriptwriter along with actor.

Now that he wants to focus on delivering his best acting as the woebegotten bajaj driver, the producer has hired a team of eight professional scriptwriters to make sure no actor has to resort to making up improvised jokes due to dull and poorly written scripts.

"I play well as Bajuri because the script supports me in doing so. It is tight and does not let the actors make too many improvisations," says the Jakarta-born comedian.

In real life, Nasrullah has also been able to improvise and go with life's detours.

Very few people know that prior to becoming a comedian, Nasrullah was a film actor in the mid-1970s. After a string of dramatic roles, including in Mendung Tak Selamanya Kelabu (Every cloud has a silver lining), he sharpened his acting by joining Teater Mama, which regularly performed comedy plays on state- owned TVRI television station from 1978-1982.

"That was one of the most exciting periods of my career," recalled Nasrullah.

He and his fellow members of Teater Mama introduced a new kind of comedy by having a studio audience giving their comments and reactions to the jokes. We at home guessed that all the actors were so good at improvising that the studio audience could not help but laugh.

The truth?

"I've told you before, I am not going to do a program with a bad script. At Teater Mama, we practiced so hard, thus we managed to create an ambiance that made every line and joke we deliver look smoothly spontaneous. The fact is that everything was written in the script and the director was so disciplined, improvising was almost impossible," said Nasrullah.

Performing regularly on the country's only TV station at the time was a rare chance. Nasrullah's career as a comedian seemed on the right track but it did not last. His decision to become actively involved in the United Development Party (PPP) that was vying against the ruling Golkar grouping effectively put a stop to his rise.

It was no joke when the government banned him from TV appearances from 1982-1990 simply because of his political preference. Worse still, no film studio offered him roles in their productions.

"But I took everything in stride. They might ban my creativity but not my brain," Nasrullah said. The period allowed him to go back to school and study at the University of Indonesia's School of Political and Social Sciences for 10 semesters.

Several years later, the end of the Soeharto regime ushered in a second chance for Nasrullah on the stage. He got offers to perform in various TV programs, but it was the creation of Bajaj Bajuri two years ago that has brought his talents to the fore once again.

The 30-minute sitcom is popular nationwide, showcasing Nasrullah as a comedian or, as he puts it, a comic actor.

"Boy, if only you knew how hard it is to become a comedian. You need an awfully big stock of funny jokes and have to be ready to be spontaneous at all times. And let me tell you, I was an unsuccessful comedian. Now just call me an actor who plays comedy characters."

This comes from a funny guy who -- with his devilish grin and devastating look every time his mom-in-law scolds him for not bringing home enough money -- has managed to convince us that the local TV scene is not dead -- and the unrelenting dose of pretty faces is much more than our recommended daily requirements.

Fame has not gone to his head. He is still a happily married man father of three who refuses to be interviewed on a weekend. He stubbornly keeps his lucky charm of a small faded yellow towel on his shoulder even during a break from filming.

Surprisingly, seriousness is the personal trait that continually emerges during an interview with Nasrullah.

From recounting his past of being kicked out of the film industry to his dream of making Bajaj Bajuri, everything is told in an earnestness that we don't really expect from a comedy actor.

Most of the time, his structured sentences remind us how smart he really is. In fact, he only dipped into comedy once during the whole meeting, when telling why he married a native Jakartan woman.

"Oh, I wish I could marry a bule (Western) girl, but fate brought me a local 'product'. What can I say, singkong (cassava) meets singkong again, ha ha ..."