Blessings of Raya
Nabila Huda Suhaimi tells Dennis Chua about her Raya reconciliation with her father and stepmother
AWARD-winning actress Nabila Huda Suhaimi admits she has a tendency to “flare up” and lash out at those who have hurt her feelings. Fortunately, she is making an effort to reverse this “in-built flaw” of hers, for the sake of better family ties.
Nabila Huda, 34, blames her “hotheadedness” for her estrangement from the “love of her life”, her father Suhaimi Abdul Rahman, popularly known as Amy of rock band Search. She lays it all down to her inability to get along with her stepmother Norhasniza “Nourish” Hassan over the last few years.
“We weren’t on the same wave-length, and I felt that papa (Amy) was virtually under her ‘power’. Looking back, that wasn’t a nice thought for me to have,” said Nabila Huda when met at the recent launch of Astro Warna’s new musical-comedy reality show, Muzikal Lawak Superstar, at Hard Rock Cafe, Kuala Lumpur. She is the co-host of the show which airs today, sharing hosting duties with comedian Nabil Ahmad.
FIRST MOVE
Nabila Huda revealed that Nourish took the initiative to “bury the hatchet” with her a week ago. In this endeavour, their family friend, award-winning director Erma Fatima, was Nourish’s “closest ally”.
“Stepmum (Nourish) made the first move, not me. A few days before papa’s Raya open house, she contacted me on social media and apologised, expressing regret that I had chosen to ‘bring things out in the open’. She then told me to think of the good things she had done for me, if any.
“As a result I began to think, why do I always see the bad in others instead of the good? Papa is not like that, he always sees the good in others and tends to forget about the bad. If papa is like that, why can’t I be more like him?”. This thought had made Nabila Huda shed tears of remorse.
She said that some minutes later, she gave Nourish a call and apologised for “not showing her kindness and respect”.
“As a step-daughter, I realised that it was high time for me to reciprocate, as I didn’t start the reconciliation process, stepmum did. I put myself into papa’s shoes, and stepmum’s too. How would they feel if I kept staying away from them and not talking to them for another year?
“I did not visit him for three Hari Rayas. Shouldn’t I start to buck the trend for the sake of family ties?”.
The famous proverb that “blood is thicker than water” popped up in NabilaHuda’ s mind. She chose to swallow her pride for the sake of her father .“It is always better for me to choose the higher road in life. Even my husband and Erma told me that.”
Later, Erma called Nabila Huda and encouraged her to visit Amy. Her husband Mohamad Izwan Johar also suggested that she “perhaps spring him a surprise visit. Nothing would please him more.”
Nabila Huda, Mohamad Izwan and Erma visited Amy and Nourish at their house in Denai Alam, Shah Alam on June 20. As soon as Mohamad Izwan rang the doorbell, Amy opened the door. Nabila Huda was moved to tears to see her father’s “precious smile”.
Both father and daughter embraced and apologised, and Nabila kissed Amy on both cheeks. “My husband was right. Papa’s radiant smile was priceless, he looked like an angel, and I felt like the luckiest person in the world,” said Nabila Huda. “Nothing melts my heart more than his precious smile.”
SURPRISE TREAT
The family spent a few hours together in Amy’s living room that day. “There was lots of honest ‘pouring out’ (of feelings), but in a light-hearted manner. Everyone was in a jovial mood, to make the Raya gathering as joyous as possible.
“And papa told stepmum and I to ‘buang
yang keruh ambil yang jernih’, that is to put the past behind us. Stepmum and I fully agreed.”
Nourish, who was given a surprise birthday treat by Nabila Huda and Amy last Sunday, said on Instagram that she was thankful that she and Nabila Huda had finally reconciled.
“Abil, we apologise for not paying enough attention to the challenges that you face. May this all be a lesson to us, which will help us strengthen our family ties. We love you too,” she said. “After 16 years, this is my best birthday gift. Thanks for the surprise party, which was so meaningful to me. May we grow wiser and look forward to better days.”
Amy, 60, also took to Instagram to say his heart was filled with joy.
“My prayers have been answered, it is the will of God and I’m thankful that we’ve received His blessings this Hari Raya,” said Amy.
NEW VENTURE
Nabila Huda is delighted to be hosting her first reality show with Nabil.
“We are great friends, even though he’s wackier than I am. I’m always comfortable with Nabil, because we are humorous and playful people,” she said about Nabil her co-host. “And being a fan of musical theatre like Ola Bola, I’m delighted to be part of this new series because it’s a celebration of homegrown mini musicals.”
Muzikal Lawak Superstar will broadcast on Astro Warna (132) and Warna HD (124) at 9pm every Friday for 10 weeks. Fourteen teams of three — comprising one singeractor and two comedians — are competing in the show with Shah Nizam Abdul Halim of rock group Slam as the music director.
The artistes chose their three-member teams after discussions amongst themselves, as well as with the production team. Each team gets to perform a sketch for three to five minutes. Their sketches have different weekly themes and parody popular songs.
The teams are judged by singer-actor Datuk Awie, actress Nora Danish and hiphop star Altimet.
Awie judges acting and comedy skills, Nora judges creativity and provides audience feedback, while Altimet judges lyrical creativity, showmanship and vocal prowess.
Half of each team’s marks is awarded by the judges and the other half is determined by viewer SMS and online voting. The team with the lowest marks at the end of each weekly concert is eliminated.
The top winners get RM150,000, RM75,000, RM50,000, and RM25,000 plus trophies.
The weekly concerts will be held at Dewan Putra behind the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur.