 Where lies the heart of a star
Every genius has his roots. Each marvel springs
from a source.
In 1925, a young sailor from Lho' Seumawe in Acheh
by the name of Teuku Nyak Puteh settled in Penang to marry a quiet lass from
Butterworth, Che Mah Hussein.
As the modest couple began a new life in a village,
it is unlikely they could in their wildest dreams have imagined that they
would have a son who would some day become a legend.
P. Ramlee became just that; an icon whose stature
rang across the continent, the most consummate entertainer – actor,
director, singer, composer, storyteller – Malaysia has seen or is ever
likely to.
It all began at a tiny address in Penang island
– 4A Caunter Hall Road – a humble house typical of a Malay
kampung structure raised on stilts with attap-thatched roofing, corrugated
sheets of iron, and wooden floors.
 The house still stands at the road (picture right),
which some 10 years after his death was renamed Jalan P. Ramlee and now draws
streams of curious visitors and tourists.
Lush, open-spaced and idyllic, the environment of
the place, dotted with swaying coconut trees, was ripe for nurturing the
spirited, romantic passion of an artistic heart.
Ramlee was born in this house of his maternal
grandmother on March 22 – on the festive day of Hari Raya Aidil Fitri
– of 1929. After 44 days he was taken to his parents' home in Kampung
Jawa, but in later years kept coming to Caunter Hall till his groundbreaking
move to the illustrious studio of the Shaw Brothers in Singapore.
 Ramlee is said to have taken to singing and storytelling
very naturally at a tender age. Even as a teenager, his steady resonant voice
so impressed his neighbours that he was frequently asked to be the muezzin
and call out daily Muslim prayers at the Kampung Jawa Baru mosque.
But it was the rendition of his celebrated song
Azizah, composed in his early 20s for his first love, which thrust him on
the threshold towards stardom.
In 1948, B.S. Rajhans, a Singaporean director scouting
for talents, attended an agricultural show in which Ramlee's band just so
happened to be invited to perform. Rajhans was instantly taken with the band
and Ramlee's marvellous delivery of Azizah. He asked Ramlee and his friend
Sukardi if they would be interested in a screen test for the Shaw Brothers'
Malay Film Productions.
On the morning of August 8, Ramlee and Sukardi boarded
a train at the Butterworth railway terminal, their excited minds set on the
famed studio far south in Singapore.
Rajhans himself later directed Ramlee's first movie
called Chinta, which featured Siput Sarawak playing the female lead.
Ramlee was cast as the villain and was also the background singer.
 In his element – P. Ramlee and his
wife, Saloma belting out a favourite accompanied by
friends.
It is said that the young Ramlee eagerly took up
any task during production and was willing to be cast in any role –
hero or villain. With his beautiful voice, he later became the first Malay
film star not to require a background singer.
It is understood that the days preceding Ramlee's
sudden demise in 1973 were filled with strains in his personal life. But
the impact he had made among his admirers was by then already indelible.
When he died of a heart attack at the age of only
45 years at his last home in Kuala Lumpur, he had acted in 60 films and directed
37.
 He has also crooned more than 250 original songs
– including tunes that are now immortal classics such as Bunyi
Guitar, Malam ku Bermimpi, Jeritan Batinku and the immensely
melodious Jangan Tinggal Daku.
His movies, popularly rerun on television ever since,
have become household names and intimately adored by a wide cross-section
of Malaysian society.
In 1957, he was awarded the best male actor for
Anakku Sazali at the Asian Film Festival in Tokyo. In 1959, his
Pendekar Bujang Lapok won the best comedy at the same festival held
in Kuala Lumpur, and in 1963 he was given an extraordinary award as Asia's
Most Versatile Talent for his performance in Ibu Mertuaku.
His string of honours is dizzying. Even the Malaysian
army offered him the title of 'Sergeant Titular' because of his acting in
the movie Sergeant Hassan!
 The King of Malaysia posthumously conferred upon
him the honorary title Tan Sri in 1990.
Malaysia's first Prime Minister
sharing a moment with P. Ramlee.
Some of P. Ramlee's films laid benchmarks and lasting
imprints in local film lore. The movie Sitora Harimau Jadian (1964)
was filled with trick shots and makeup techniques considered novel in the
industry then.
The story was about a retired fighter who arrives
with his family to trade in a village just as superstitious folks hear accounts
of a magical creature haunting the area by night. It thrilled the audiences,
as did the comedies Madu Tiga, Nujum Pa' Belalang and
Laksamana Do Re Mi enrapture viewers from all walks of life.
Intriguingly enough, Malaysians could do well to
thank none other than their Japanese occupiers of the Second World War for
refining the talents of the boy who would someday became the country's greatest
screen idol.
Ramlee was under the tutelage of the brass band
head of the Penang Free School, Encik Kamaruddin, when the Japanese invaded
and he was forced to stop schooling. He soon attended the Kaigun,
a Japanese navy school, where while picking up Japanese songs he was trained
in violin, piano and ukulele under the tutorship of Hirake San.
He later learnt to strum the guitar from Zain Kechik,
the head of the Bintang Sore band.
Ramlee's own first band was Teruna Sekampung
– a collection of young eager beavers who were only too happy to jam
away at wedding receptions and other festive occasions with their violin,
drum set, saxophone, double bass and a couple of guitars.
He then joined the Mutiara band and still
later the Pancaragam Keroncong Pemuda Indonesia as its viola player.
It is with this last band that at the age of 18 years he won a regional contest
for bands in Penang and Province Wellesley for the song Keroncong Oh
Suci, which he belted out himself.
That same year he was also chosen as North Malaya's
Star Singer in a contest organised by Radio Pulau Pinang. It was during this
event that he first used the initial 'P', from his father's name, Puteh,
in front of his own.
In fact, unknown to many, Ramlee's original name
was Teuku Zakaria bin Teuku Nyak Puteh. His father, the Achehnese sailor,
later changed it on the advice his elder brother.
Today, coconut trees still sway near Ramlee's birthplace
and children in surrounding village can be heard at play just like ages ago.
The portraits of Teuku Nyak Puteh and his wife Che
Mah now hang within the house that 75 years ago ushered in a child destined
for stardom.
Amid the very down-to-earth air of the small building,
their meek rustic faces beam with such simplicity that one cannot help but
sense that beautiful spirit of innocence, that earnest humility, which raised
P. Ramlee to move a nation.
Written by
Himanshu Bhatt |
