WORDS TERTIANI ZB SIMANJUNTAK PHOTOS JERRY ADIGUNA

It’s been a busy year for actress Acha Septriasa who was overwhelmed with shooting seven films in a row and the release of eight of her films (two have been produced in the past two years), including the latest Bulan Terbelah di Langit Amerika 2 (Split Moon in the American Sky 2), not to mention her wedding preparation in December.

As she relocated to Sydney, Australia, the last film she would feature in for a while was Kartini, a biopic about the Javanese noblewoman who struggled for gender equality in the education system and society at large. Directed by Hanung Bramantyo, the film was slated for release in April, in conjunction with the national heroine’s birthdate — Kartini Day.

Although the 27-year-old made the decision to leave the country to be with her husband Vicky Kharisma Muriza, who works in an IT company based in Sydney, she was yet bidding farewell to acting.

“I love acting, I really do. I feel blessed that I can earn a living from doing what I love to do,” she said in an interview after a Bulan Terbelah promotional event. “[Directors] Hanung and Monty Tiwa told me to return soon, even though I haven’t been gone,” she said, laughing. “Monty said he could understand my decision to build a family, but it shouldn’t mean quitting my career.”

The director has become Acha’s best friend and soulmate at work since the production of romantic drama Test Pack in 2012 — the film that put her on the list of actresses to watch out for as she won Best Actress in the Indonesian Film Festival (FFI) that year.

Their first meeting was not exactly a smooth one, but was nevertheless memorable.

As the winner of prestigious cover magazine pageant Gadis Sampul in 2004, Acha started her film career the next year in a supporting role in romantic comedy Apa Artinya Cinta? (What’s the Meaning of Love?), which was followed by appearances in a string of teen romance flicks as the lead actress.

She was a nominee for Best Actress at the FFI in 2007 and was honored as Best Actress for her appearance in Love at the Guardian e-Awards in 2008. In 2007, she was reportedly the actress with the fourth-highest salary in the country.

“At first [Monty] underestimated me, saying that it would be OK if couldn’t act well in Test Pack because as an actress of popular teen flicks people would accept me no matter what. That was a harsh remark but I took it as a challenge.”

In 2016 alone, she played in three of Monty’s films: action drama, epic adventure Barakati where we can see her throwing some punches and kicks; romantic comedy Shy Shy Cat and the heartwarming drama Sabtu Bersama Bapak (Saturdays with Father).

Trophy collector

Strong determination and resilience were not her only good traits, but combined with experience, they are surely the main reasons Acha is standing where she is now.

“I never learned how to act. But it could be a skill I obtained from years of being the champion of poetry reading contests,” she said.

When she started school, Acha lived with her grandmother, an Indonesian language teacher and junior high school headmistress, who encouraged her to take part in a poetry reading competition. She lost because she forgot a word and cried on stage, but won first place the second time around.  

Since second grade of elementary school to her senior year in high school, Acha collected 37 trophies from poetry reading competitions, which brought her to province-level competitions and a meeting with former Jakarta governor Sutiyoso.

“My grandmother got me into almost all competitions on short story writing, speech, singing and emcee-ing,” she said. She was also into sports, playing soccer at junior high and becoming the captain of a basketball team at high school. “Contributing trophies to the school became a habit, my school friends didn’t bother to ask who actually won it.”

Born in Jakarta on Sept. 1, 1989 as Jelita Septriasa, Acha is the third of six siblings in the family of oil and gas expert Sagitta Ahimsha and art school graduate Rita Emza, who once worked as a banker and now works as an architect. From her parents, she learned about the importance of education and hard work in life.

She won a scholarship to study at Limkokwing University of Creative Technology in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in early 2008, majoring in film and journalism with elective studies on multimedia and advertising.

There, she continued singing and went on a tour of 13 states for Warner Music Malaysia, but took a one-year period of leave to return home as she missed acting. “Fortunately, my scholarship was not severed and instead my film work was taken as course credit. I also produced, directed and played in a film project that has become one of the university’s selected works.”

Before graduating on December 2011, upon request from her father to try office work related to her education, Acha worked as an intern and even got in the work probation period at a foreign oil and gas company. “But I quit because I found out that office work is definitely not my cup of tea,” she said.

And that was about the time she took a job in a film with small pay “because I just wanted everyone to realize that I was back”.

Farewell to singing

Acha has also quit her singing career, which started as she performed the theme songs of her films, right after releasing a mini album titled Keputusan Hati (Decision from the Heart), which consisted of four songs she wrote and produced herself.

“It was my idealistic project that came from the heart. But only 13,000 copies sold and some 7,000 copies were returned and stacked in the garage. I was a bit shocked because not long ago I received 10 platinum awards from Malaysia and three platinum awards from Indonesia for my duet album.”

In Malaysia, a platinum award is given for an album with 250,000 copies sold, while in Indonesia it’s for 750,000 copies sold each.

“I produced the album during my leave and because of the result, I realized that I should focus on my study and film.”

Acha said that with her experience and education background, she would contribute to the development of the country’s film industry but from the human resources side, where she says actors and film crew are often exploited in terms of pay and working hours due to their lack of competency and knowledge.

“I don’t actually know much about the industry as a whole, because I am only concerned about the creative process of film production. I don’t even know how to brand myself as an actress, in which class I belonged if such categorization existed.

“But I’d like to establish a forum for film people where we can share and build an ecosystem within the industry to improve the social welfare of actors and crew members.”

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