KUALA LUMPUR: Award-winning actor Rusdi Ramli who views acting as serious business is upset with newcomers who lack discipline and are unfocused when it comes to work.
Many of them prefer playing with their handphones on the film set instead of giving full attention to their roles and lines.
Rusdi, 50, who played second Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak Hussein in the 2013 historical film Tanda Putera, lamented that many new actors were engrossed with social media.
They constantly fiddled with their phones instead of even talking to their experienced co-stars and learning from them.
"This isn't the way things were during my days as a struggling actor. I had to give the director and fellow cast members 100 per cent attention.
"We worked as a team and bonded with one another. There was no time for being aloof," he said in a news report today.
Rusdi also said that new actors and actresses appeared unwilling to learn from their seniors, and at times he even asked them if they understood their roles.
"To be a successful actor, you must be serious about learning the craft. You must be focused and committed, and communicate with your senior co-stars in every project," he said.
"It is your talent that matters, not social media popularity, for popularity fades but talent acquired through hard work stays."
Rusdi is the son of veteran actress and comedienne Norlia Ghani. He began his acting career in the 1980s, and his best known films include Leftenan Adnan, Pontianak Harum Sundal Malam 2, Bilut, 1957: Hati Malaya, Cuci, Tanda Putera, Awan Dania The Movie and Polis Evo 2.