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#Showbiz: Playing legal eagles

WHEN actress Daiyan Trisha was offered a role in KL Motion Picture's production Tetuan Ang & Rahimin, among her first assignments after reading the script was to check out popular legal TV show in the late 1990s — Ally McBeal.

"I've heard of how good productions from KL Motion Picture. So, it wasn't difficult for me to say yes to the offer," shares the 28-year-old artiste who is also a singer.

"This production also marks my first at playing a role that has comedy element," she says.

Daiyan plays Budi, a junior lawyer at legal firm Tetuan Ang & Rahimin.

"The directors (siblings Wan Alauddin and Wan Hasliza) suggested that the best reference for my character would be the one played by Calista Flockhart in the titular role of the quirky legal drama," she shares.

Playing Budi also has it perks, she adds.

"Thank God, I didn't really have to worry about acting as an experienced lawyer. Budi makes a lot of mistakes, since she is new to her job," she laughs.

Daiyan says working with the two directors who understand how to shape a story makes her job easier.

"The story focuses more on the personal life of three lawyers including Budi's employers Ang (played by Rashidi Ishak) and Rahimin (played by Ben Amir). It's not so much about the legal cases the firm deals with, although the cases featured did add to the scenarios which highlighted our characters and our stories in the series."

Being a young lawyer, Budi is also ambitious. She cannot see a future with her more conservative fiancé.

The drama follows the story of Budi who recently joins the legal firm Tetuan Ang & Rahimin. However, things take a turn at the firm when a partner of the firm left together with some of the firm's clients.

"The first month of filming was fun until we got to the courtroom scenes.

"We had longer dialogues and certain scenes had to be re-shot, sometimes up to eight times!" says Daiyan.

Challenging experience

"The scenes in the courtroom were very challenging for everybody!" chips in her co-star Rashidi.

As lines were becoming tougher to memorise, it took its toll on the cast, especially for the 48-year-old actor who was tested positive for the coronavirus during filming, a few days after Daiyan who also tested positive for Covid-19.

Filming halted for 10 days after 10 others including the crew were down with the virus.

"When I returned to the set after recovery, I noticed that I wasn't as sprightly as before.

"What with such difficult scenes which resulted in umpteen takes, I was very visibly tired. It was even evident in my voice," recounts Rashidi.

He admits after recovery, he has turned into almost an "anti-social".

"In-between takes, I didn't socialise, preferring to stay in my car, and away from the rest. And right after work, I'd head home straight," he says, adding that having been down with Covid-19, makes him feeling cautious and paranoid.

Rashidi however adds playing Azlan Ang was a wonderful experience and one which he will look back with pride.

"When I first read the script, it was a thrilling feeling. And I'm honoured to have acted alongside young and talented artistes like Ben and Daiyan.

To prepare for his role, he watched several popular legal dramas for reference.

"I watched Ally McBeal and Suits. Besides that, I also turned to some of my lawyer friends as point of reference," says the actor who had an introduction to Law when he studied for his A-levels a long time ago.

"We also had a legal consultant on the set, whose advice would save us from making embarrassing faux pas to the profession and its practitioners."

Far from being a stereotype

With the pandemic still looms large, the producers built the sets for the drama series, including the mock-up courtroom.

"The sets were built inside an empty rented bungalow in Nilai," says Rashidi.

However, with the filming location in Nilai, Negri Sembilan, travelling back and forth between there and Kuala Lumpur daily became a chore for Ben.

"While it felt alright driving to the set, it turns worse when the day was over and you need to head home," says the 31-year-old actor who plays money-oriented Rahimin who accepts all kinds of unscrupulous wealthy clients.

"To play Rahimin, the reference is definitely more from drama such as Suits," shares Ben who accepted the job when he found out that Was Hasliza and Wan Alauddin were helming the drama.

"I've worked with them before and I knew how good they are.

"I must say it's been a while since I had a refreshing role such as this one.

Others in the cast of the 20-episode drama include Anita Baharom, Ellyas Abdullah, Shahril Sarjen, Iman Corrine Adrienne and Samsul Ahmad.

Tetuan Ang & Rahimin is currently airing on Astro Ria (Astro channel 104) at 11pm from Monday to Thursday.

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