SOUNDBYTES

MORNINGS: Coffee; kiss wife and son; news; traffic. DAY JOB: Investment manager. PLAYLIST: The National’s new

album and Ray LaMontagne. RE- READING: George Orwell’s 1984. And reading The Penguin

History of Economics. PHILOSOPHY: There are things

beyond physical reality. THE ICONS: Marlon Brando

and Steve McQueen. DRIVES: BMW 3 Series. DE-STRESSES: I sweat, shower, and sleep. On tough days I watch

films alone, in a dark room. commentary was downplayed and the slapstick high octane, what really stood out was the blatantly unapologetic, sexual humour. In a cultural climate that saw the last of its comedic sexuality in the days of the late great Tan Sri P. Ramlee, this seems a political move in and of itself, and through the flurry of college antics and low-brow ribaldry one man took the spotlight: Redza Minhat.

“We started as an artistic collective,” says the introspective Redza, “basically it was a way for us to gather and collaborate creatively, express our ‘crazy’, that sort of thing. The accolades from the BOH Cameronian Arts Awards have been the icing on the cake because they were Audience Choice awards. That resonates.” But what started as straight-up theatre went viral, and before long the group found themselves with their own TV show: The Disko Baldi Show went on air in July on 8TV.

“The thing is there’s a part of me that knows how good I’ve got it. I get to do this thing I love, act, write. I married a woman who truly loves me, I have a son and appreciate my real life. Sure, there are some haters out there” – he is not unaware that there are those who think he’s just a pretty face – “but there will always be haters and the fact is even with the Disko Baldi crew I have the “voice of reason” tag and often get ribbed for it. But that’s fine,” he smiles with a degree of self-effacement, “I know exactly what I bring to the project.”

Next up is a film that Redza wrote to be directed again by Nik Amir Mustapha. “Bikin Filem is a concept I wanted to explore that teamed a coming-of-age tale with an adult road trip about the journey of self-actualisation. You think it’s a film about UFOs (oh, yes) but it’s really about existentialism ( laughs) ... the idea of the individual as opposed to society; of pursuing elusive dreams that seem out of your depth. It reflects the state of film here. But I believe in changing the system from within the system.” Looking forward to the film’s scheduled release in March 2014, there is no doubt that this young man from the small, cowboy town up in Perak is patiently catching his dreams one at a time in the bright lights of the big city.