Syed Hussein bin Syed Mustafa, better known as Sein Ruffedge, stormed into the local entertainment scene by showcasing his musical talents in the hip hop group M.O.B alongside Malaysian Film Festival Best Actor and "Adnan Sempit" star Shaheizy Sam in the early 2000s. The singer later joined another R&B group, Ruffedge, to further his music career. Following this, he gained more recognition from the local audience as the winner of the third season of Astro dancing reality show "Sehati Berdansa", as well as making headlines by marrying the MP's daughter Nana and divorcing her in 2010. This year, Sein ventures into another area in the industry by taking on directorial duties for the first time with his revenge-themed thriller "Langgar", starring fairly known stars such as Adi Putra, Namron, Hans Isaac, Natasha Hudson, Nadia Heng and Bell Ngasri. Cinema Online caught Sein at the launch of his new movie and had a brief chit-chat session with the director. Hi Sein, how do you feel today? I feel great, I'm here with a bunch of wonderful individuals to launch my very first movie "Langgar". What is "Langgar" about? It's a tragic story about an ordinary man named Nizam, played by Adi Putra, who lost his wife in a gang murder. He then hatches a plan to get himself into the seedy side of society to find out who her killer is. There is nonstop action, revenge and love in it. What does having a star-studded line-up in your directorial debut mean to you? I started my career in this industry with a passion in music and later acted in some dramas. Now I have a bunch of experienced actors and actresses to back me up in my very first cinematic production. They are the one of the main reasons why I was so motivated to give my best to the film. I only have one word to describe this – grateful! Do you feel pressured working under these stars who have also worked as a director or producer for their own films previously? Not really because people like Hans and Namron were very helpful to me throughout the shooting. Instead of feeling pressured, they provided me creative ideas that made the whole filming process much easier than I expected.
Did the local censorship board cut any scene from the film? Yes, but only two scenes. The movie is classified as 18. What is the hardest thing to deal with while filming "Langgar"? Time. I had to crack my head to handle different aspects of the production and try to complete the shooting as listed in our schedule. Director Pierre Andre was the one who wrote the first draft of the movie script for us, but unfortunately he left the team due to other urgent commitments, so I had to take over the job and produce the rest of the script before approaching Tayangan Unggul's creative team.
What are your expectations for "Langgar"? Action is my favourite genre and it has always been a genre that entertained our audience all these years. I'm confident that our effort will be recognized by them and they will definitely love the film. Thank you, Sein. Thank you and remember to support "Langgar" on 11 April!