Rachel Maryam, the girl next door

Rachel Maryam, the girl next door

Joko Anwar, Contributor, Jakarta

As the number of locally made movies has seemingly increased in
the past three years, new talents, both in front or behind the
camera have also begun to emerge.

In the race to achieve the biggest-star status in the newly
reborn film industry, 23-year-old Rachel Maryam Sayidina is
definitely one of the front runners.

Sweet-natured and refreshingly open, Rachel possesses a unique
combination of maturity and child-like charm.

She made a big entrance into the industry by taking a leading
role in Riri Riza's Eliana, Eliana (2002). Though a commercial
failure, the stylized, absorbingly winning drama received a great
response from critics.

Her portrayal as a woman trying to escape her traditional
upbringing in the movie represents her true nature as a free-
spirited person.

Her decision not to complete her study in a hotel and tourism
college in her hometown Bandung, West Java proved this.

"I couldn't take it anymore. I went to school where I had to
wear a uniform. We even had to use the same color lipstick,"
Rachel said.

Blessed with an instinctive grasp for acting and charisma to
generate a major screen presence, Rachel was born a star.

As a kid, little Rachel acted as she were already an actress.
She also liked directing friends performing a story she made up.
In high school, she organized her friends to establish a drama
club.

Yet her dream to become a real screen performer only came true
two-years ago.

When she was a college student in Bandung, she happened to
meet singer/novelist Dewi Lestari in a store. Being a fan, Rachel
quickly introduced herself to Dewi who was quickly impressed by
Rachel's personality.

Dewi, who wrote the bestselling novel Supernova, at the time
was working on a novel called Keenan Kugy. When she showed the
novel to her brother, TV drama director Kay Simangunsong, he
immediately suggested that the story would be great for a TV
drama.

Dewi agreed to write the script, but only if Kay cast Rachel
in the lead.

Kay, who never heard of her (Rachel had only done some TV
commercials), found a dead end in trying to find Rachel, and
Dewi, who only met her once, was not a big help either.

When Kay happened to visit a TV station, his eyes were set on
a very spirited girl whom he thought would be a great substitute
for Rachel. Little did he know that the girl was actually the
girl he had been trying to meet.

However, when the script for Keenan Kugy took longer than they
thought, Kay cast Rachel as the title character in the TV series
Strawberri (Strawberry) currently aired by SCTV.

Even though she started in a dramatic role in Eliana, Eliana,
Rachel then took a turn as a sweet young woman named Renata in
lightweight romantic comedy Andai Ia Tahu (If He Only Knew,
2002).

She quickly became a nice-girl-next-door icon.

Her performance in the title role in Strawberri as a wacky
sweet girl firmed her image.

"The director got this idea: What if a strawberry is turned
into a woman? And he thought it would be me," Rachel said and
chuckled.

Rachel admitted to be quite comfortable about her established
image, which seems to lack edge.

"It's nice to be loved," she said.

She is, however, quite worried she may become typecast.

"Now some people think that when I act in a movie, I am merely
being my (cheerful) self. But I actually am a complex person,"
Rachel said.

"There is Renata is me, there is also Strawberri, and Eliana,
of course," Rachel said.

When being asked if she was also sad and lost like her Eliana
character, she admitted that it was quite true.

"I don't why but I am always kind of lonely. Perhaps because I
lost a father figure at an early age."

However, Rachel did not get sentimental.

"I grew up watching my parents fighting. But it didn't make me
feel depressed or something."

She even admitted that she wasn't disappointed when her
parents decided to get a divorce when she was at junior high.

"I really think it is the best thing for them. Why should two
people who never get along stay in a marriage?" she said, not
that she does not believe in marriage.

"People make mistakes. They choose a wrong person to be with.
So why stay in a mistake?"

She, however, admitted that she could not live without having
someone at her side.

"What I know for sure is that I just can't live without a
boyfriend," Rachel said.

"That's why breaking up with someone is a very horrible thing
for me."

She added that she was independent enough to be able to manage
her career life, but she would always need someone as an
"emotional companion".