Shadow play in a galaxy far, far away

A SMALL six-year-old boy was looking in awe at the giant cinema screen. His father was late in buying the tickets, so the only seats available were on the front row. When the movie was over, he had a strained neck.

But that didn’t stop him from from having the opening scene of the movie imprinted in his brain. The scene – a group of Stormtroopers barging into the Rebel ship that they had just taken captive followed by the unmistakable sound of heavy breathing, and there appeared Darth Vader.

The movie was called "Star Wars" and the six year old boy had watched it in the late 1970s. He is now 43 years old and goes by the name of Tintoy Chuo. Back then, he wouldn’t have anticipated how Star Wars would become so much a part of his life.

'Peperangan Bintang'

It was May 2012 when adult Chuo, a multimedia designer received an invitation from an art curator friend to exhibit something at an art show in Publika. He had the spontaneous idea of designing several Star Wars characters in the form of wayang kulit puppets.

The two characters he exhibited, Perantau Langit and Sangkala Vadeh, garnered enough attention that a traditional wayang kulit Tok Dalang (master puppeteer), Muhammad Dain Othman, contacted him to view, or in his words 'inspect' his work.

"I received a message from Pak Dain saying that he was interested in seeing my work. I knew it was a nice way of saying he wanted to come and inspect what I was doing," laughed Chuo.

Even though Pak Dain came with scepticism, eventually he became one of the biggest supporters of Fusion Wayang Kulit, the loose group that Chuo started with his friend Teh Take Huat, to promote the art of wayang kulit using contemporary stories – namely Peperangan Bintang, or Star Wars inspired wayang kulit.

In December 2012, Chuo made a trip to Kampung Morak in the outskirts of Kota Bharu, Kelantan, on the invitation of Pak Dain to watch an authentic traditional wayang kulit performance. He was blown away to see the intricacies and passion involved.

In return, he gave the Tok Dalang a DVD of the Star Wars trilogy. Pak Dain didn't know anything about the Star Wars storyline, but he realised the importance of using a more appealing element to help spread the art of wayang kulit to the younger generation.

Impressed with Chuo's commitment to learn the art, he gave his commitment to be involved in Fusion Wayang Kulit, with the condition that it be done properly with respect for the traditional art. Of course, Chuo said yes.

"Before this, I had Googled 'wayang kulit' but everything I found was about the Javanese version. Nothing much about the kind found in Kelantan," lamented Chuo.

He asked Pak Dain to produce one of the Star Wars characters the traditional way, which would be using cowhide carved by hand (the Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader he had done used a laser cutter) and it turned out beautiful.

"The human imprecisions of the carving gave the character so much life and personality and this was what the art was all about. Totally different from a laser cut out," he said.

That first traditionally created character was Sangkala Vedeh (inspired by Darth Vader). Today, Fusion Wayang Kulit brings the performance of Peperangan Bintang all around the country, with Pak Dain as the Tok Dalang.

Of course, Chuo’s efforts has faced some criticism. There are those who are unhappy with him apparently tainting and corrupting the traditional art form which has been around for centuries. But this hasn't fazed him one bit.

His intentions are clear. He has a tremendous respect for the art and wants to bring this to as many people as possible. And the best way to do it is to marry the traditional with the contemporary to broaden its appeal.

"It's like Japanese Ramen. The traditional way of making it is by hand and you can probably only find it in Japan. But they have also made an instant noodles version and it's now popular all round the world.

"And there will be those who were introduced to it via instant noodles who decided to explore deeper and discover the actual tradition," he said.

But the positives definitely outweigh the negatives and the support he receives are significantly more. It is most probably because he has stayed true to the art and his consultation with Pak Dain has resulted in the actual artform being preserved, albeit with new characters.

Star Wars fan boy

Chuo, a self-professed Star Wars fan boy, couldn't have found a passion closer to his heart than Peperangan Bintang and Fusion Wayang Kulit. And to prove it, he proudly states that he had pre-ordered his cinema tickets for "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in May 2015.

"The tickets are for the whole family. I have three kids who are forced to love Star Wars and they will be dressed in Jedi and Sith costumes which my wife made!" he laughed.

The hype surrounding this Star Wars installment started more than a year ago and after watching the first few teasers that were released, he has made a strong decision not to indulge in anything related to the movie in the last few months preceding the international release of the full movie.

"I don't want any spoilers! If I watch too many of the teasers, I would start piecing all the scenes together in my head and it's going to spoil it for me," he said as a matter of fact.

Although he loves the movie, his early memories actually caused him a bit of distress, especially after watching "Empire Strikes Back" in the early 1980s because the good guys really took a beating in that installment.

"The good guys lost! Luke Skywalker had his hand chopped off! Darth Vader was his father! I couldn’t take it! And I had to wait another three years for Return of Jedi to make things right again!" he vented.

Chuo explained that watching Star Wars as a child and then as an adult are two totally different experiences. When he was a child, his favourite character was Luke Skywalker and he really wanted to join the Rebels and be a part of the good guys.

Now that he is much older, he has learned to appreciate the storyline and the different characters much more. In fact, he even has several issues with J.J. Abrams' The Force Awakens, namely, why is Han Solo's Millenium Falcon still more superior than all the newer space crafts even after 30 years had gone by.

"But all these are just small matters. I'm sure it's mainly because of commercialisation and merchandising!" he laughed.

One thing is for sure, he plans to have a really good time watching the new Star Wars movie this December 17. Sharing the experience you had when you were six years old with your children now would probably be priceless.

* Find out more about Fusion Wayang Kulit and Peperangan Bintang at http://facebook.com/fusionwayangkulit