Yasmin Ahmad, to many, one of the country's most honest filmmaker, passed away of a stroke last two Friday ago. She was 51.
When I heard of her stroke she suffered in TV3 premises, I could only say a little doa for her, and had thought of popping by the hospital the next day and meet up with her parents.
Unfortunately, I could not do that as I was admitted into Assunta Hospital for stomach and chest pains. She passed away later that night.
Yasmin's shooting star had come and gone - in a blink of an eye, leaving us a handful but meaningful legacy of movies that touched most true Malaysians but fell short for most peminat filem Melayu arus perdana.
She wasn't in the industry to win awards, nor was she there to make money or rub shoulders with celebrities. She couldn't care less.
She was here for one purpose. To tell stories.
I am not that particularly close to her but ever since we met at the Tehran Film Festival about three years ago, we became more comfortable with each other. The last time I met her was the the Damansara Cineleisure complex where she tried to persuade me to watch the preview of her movie Talentime. I told her I can't attend and wished her luck and also told her I'd rather pay to see her movies, as I always do for local ones.
The last time we communicated was through this blog. Just a days before she passed away, in fact. She read my review of Lestar Pelangi and wanted to know if I thought it was better than Zhang Yimou's Not One Less.
That's the thing with her that I love. She's great to talk to, about movies, books or about life.
I can't see anyone taking up her mantle.
Of all the maintstream filmmakers, she was the most UNmainstream.
To Yasmin, we love you and miss you dearly. Allah loves you more.
Al-Fatihah.
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