A life in films
> Datuk Yusof Haslam reflects on his recent Malaysian Film Festival lifetime achievement award, and his over four-decade career in movies
In 1991, Yusof directed his first feature film, Bayangan Maut, which he also produced and starred in.
The film, which also starred Noorkumalasari, Ella, and Faisal Hussein, was a box-office success, collecting (at the time) a record RM1 million.
Since then, Yusof has directed a dozen other films, many of which were also box-office hits.
At one point in his successful directing career, Yusof was dubbed the “director with the Midas touch”.
Most of his best-known projects have been films or TV series revolving around policemen, including RemangRemang Kota Raya, Roda-Roda Kota Raya, and Gerak Khas.
When asked why, Yusof says: “My other childhood ambition was to be a police inspector.”
To some degree, directing police stories or starring as a police inspector was his way of reliving his childhood ambition.
Despite some of his films being huge box-office hits, there are critics who consider him as merely a mediocre filmmaker.
“If you want to survive in this industry, you must develop a thick skin,” says Yusof.
“You cannot take criticisms to heart and let them break you.
“Our former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir [Mohamad] has done a lot for our country, and yet people have not stopped criticising him.
“You cannot please everyone. My company has survived for more than 30 years in this industry, and that fact alone is enough to tell you that there are people who like the kind of films I make.”
Currently, two of Yusof’s sons – Syamsul and Syafiq – have followed in his footsteps and become film directors.
“I never showed any special favours to my sons,” he says. “They started from the bottom, working as [one of the] crew.
“I wanted them to have some experience in the technical side, before they sit in the director’s chair.”
Yusof admits that sometimes, he and his sons do not see eyeto-eye during the filmmaking process.
He recalls one time when Syamsul wanted to make KL Gangster without any strong female lead.
“His poster did not have female faces,” Yusof says. “I’m from the old school. I always thought [that] to make a successful film, you need to have a strong female lead and you need to have a female face on your film posters.
“I am proud to say that my son [proved] me wrong. The critics and the audience loved the film.”
His sons have achieved their own measure of success.
Syamsul has won the Malaysian Film Festival best director award twice – in 2010 for Evolusi KL Drift 2 and in 2011 for KL Gangster.
He also won best director for Munafik at the 57th Asia Pacific Film Festival (APFF) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Syafiq, on the other hand, has been pushing the envelope with story ideas, film techniques and special effects with his films such as Villa Nabila and Desolasi.
It appears the apples do not fall far from the tree.