Latest news with #Raihan
AsiaOne
08-08-2025
- Entertainment
- AsiaOne
'Small gestures speak the loudest': Director M. Raihan Halim focuses on familial love in SG60 film Kopitiam Days, Entertainment News
Local director M. Raihan Halim's family was at the premiere of SG60 anthology film Kopitiam Days on Aug 5 and when his short IZ-1 came on screen, his family immediately felt a sense of familiarity. "My family had no idea what the film is about. My grandma and mum couldn't make it to the premiere, but my sisters, brothers-in-law and niece were there, and they were like, 'Oh, that's nenek (Malay for grandmother).' They get it," the 43-year-old told AsiaOne in an interview yesterday (Aug 7). Kopitiam Days, which is supported by Infocomm Media Development Authority and Singapore Film Commission, is an anthology of six shorts which features Singapore in the past, present and future. Each of the stories is independent, but the kopitiam Heap Seng Leong is a familiar place in all the characters' lives. The film is produced by local director Eric Khoo, who serves as the film's creative director and executive producer, and Lim Teck, managing director of Clover Films. Raihan's short IZ-1 — affectionately called Izwan by the crew — tells the story of an elderly woman (Zaliha Hamid) navigating life and relationship with her daughter Hannah (Siti Khalijah) in 2035. The latter buys an android caregiver with the titular name to care for makcik, who gradually cares for and accepts the robot as they live together in Kampong Lorong Buangkok, the last village in Singapore. A 'love letter' to his grandma and mum Dedicating the short as a "love letter" to his grandma and mum, who are in their 80s and 60s respectively, Raihan told us the idea for the story was sparked from his concern for them as they age and prefer to live alone. He shared: "Growing up and now getting older, I realised that they really need someone to take care of them, and the moment they say no and don't want anybody else to [assist them], we start to take precautions, such as buying a certain kind of walker for my grandma, making sure that their home is more senior-proof and the toilet bowl is a bit more cushioned." Likewise in IZ-1, where unspoken love between mother and daughter is portrayed through actions rather than words, Raihan said it's a reflection of his own family. He said: "In my family, we don't know how to say 'I am sorry' and 'I love you' and it's always through actions... I grew up in that kind of environment, we are not huggers, it's literally through acts [that we show care for each other]. "If I had an argument with my grandma and she's upset with me, she would prepare breakfast the next morning, and I know things are going to get better. So it's really the little things; the gestures are never big and small gestures speak the loudest." He added that besides cooking and buying food that he likes, they also support him in their own ways, such as his grandma buying multiple copies of the newspaper when he was featured in it. While IZ-1 centres on love between family and found family that transcends feelings, Raihan also wanted to tell a story about looking onwards. He shared: "The reason I set IZ-1 in the kampong is because I am a nostalgic person... and I just cannot help but look back at the kampong days and my childhood days... it's always easy to look back and think about the good old days. "But in this case, what I wanted to show, at least in the first minute of the film, people would think that it's another kampong story, and when the drone crash into the house from the rooftop, they would realise that they are not in the past or today but the future. That's the message that I hope will get across — we can always have one foot in the past, but we must always be ready to have one foot in the future. During SG50, it's about where we came from and in SG60, it's about where we are going next." Bringing IZ-1 to life Bringing the android IZ-1 to life fulfilled Raihan's love for kaiju (Japanese for strange creature) movies. "We questioned whether it should be fully electronic and rolling around, all that stuff. But I felt that I wanted the bulkiness of a robot suit. I am a sucker for kaiju movies, all the old Japanese stuff, where they are robots but actually men in robots. I love that and wanted to show my version of it," he shared. When designing IZ-1's costume, Raihan and the production designer wanted to keep it simple and pleasing to the audience and at the same time, not blurring the lines between human and automation. "It's not meant to look like a Tesla robot... it's closer to a Wall-E than a Tesla robot, I just didn't want the slickness of it... If you have seen some videos of the Tesla robot, it's creepy because it talks like a human being. The boundaries between man and machine is already destroyed and I am just so bothered by that, so we decided that IZ-1 could be big, but it needs to be rounded," he shared. IZ-1 was played by a theatre actor who paid attention to details in performing emotions through his gestures. In addition, the team ensured that the background was never white so that IZ-1 is the focus of the scene. And while the story is set in Kampong Lorong Buangkok, the team actually filmed it in Kuala Lumpur because there's only one kampung house in Buangkok that filmmakers are allowed to film in. "We were limited and I had a specific idea about how I wanted things to look like, but it's impossible to do that (in Singapore). So we filmed it in Malaysia, but the tough part was making it look like Singapore," he added. Little details such as the Singapore flag, Merlion, Sharity Elephant and Singa The Kindness Lion can be seen around the home to bring a sense of familiarity to local audiences. Cameoing for director Ong Kuo Sin's The Morning Call Raihan's involvement in Kopitiam Days is not just in IZ-1, but also a cameo appearance in director Ong Kuo Sin's short The Morning Call. The latter centres on the blossoming relationship between May (Jennifer Wilkinson) and her grandfather Lim (Yang Shi Bin) when she returns to Singapore with her mother Chui Hoon (Yvonne Lim) and accidentally loses the orange payphone from his kopitiam. When asked how he got an acting part in the short, Raihan laughed: "I didn't have a choice. Eric and Lim Teck convinced me and I just thought it was fun." He also shared that he appreciates Kuo Sin's works (Reunion Dinner, Number 1) and spent time on set watching him direct. "I realised why his films are so good, because he's such a giving director. He doesn't give much to me because I have very little lines [in the short], but seeing how he directed the other actors, it's really fulfilling and I have so much to learn. I am so glad that I did it in the end because I got to learn from him," Raihan said. Kopitiam Days will be shown through community screenings at the following locations and dates: Tampines Changkat Community Club: Aug 16 Our Tampines Hub: Aug 26, 27 and 31 and Sept 27 One Punggol: Sept 6 More information will be made available on the respective Facebook pages of the venues. The film will also be subsequently released on streaming platforms. [[nid:721036]] No part of this article can be reproduced without permission from AsiaOne.
Scroll.in
16-07-2025
- Business
- Scroll.in
US tariffs will crush lives and livelihoods in Bangladesh, Cambodia garment industries
Across Asia, unions and industry groups are raising alarms over the impact of higher tariffs by the United States on garment workers. High tariffs might force companies to shut down or move to neighbouring countries that offer lower tariff rates, resulting in a loss of jobs, they say. 'The potential loss of jobs will cut the income and ability for workers to sustain their daily lives,' said Ath Thorn, vice president of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers' Democratic Union, which represents 80,000 workers across 40 factories. Several countries in Asia have gotten notice of new tariff rates imposed by the United States to take effect August 1, after a 90-day pause on tariffs came to an end. Manufacturing hubs such as Bangladesh and Cambodia will face high tariffs of 35% and 36% respectively, while neighbouring countries are still negotiating with the US government. US President Donald Trump announced new tariffs through official letters posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, on July 8. The US is the largest garment export destination for Bangladesh. The country's exports to the US totalled $8.4 billion last year and of that, garments comprised $7.34 billion. Also in 2024, Cambodia exported nearly $10 billion worth of goods to the US, which accounted for nearly 40% of the nation's total exports, according to government customs statistics. More than half of US imports from Cambodia were garments, footwear and travel goods such as luggage and handbags, a sector that makes up nearly half of the country's export revenue and employs more than 900,000 workers. Unions and industry groups warn that these workers could be hit hard with job losses if the high tariffs force companies to move to countries under lower tariff rates or shut down altogether. While Cambodia is looking at a tariff rate reduction from 49% in April, anxiety permeates its garment industry, which employs hundreds of thousands of people and is one of the developing nation's key economic pillars. Meanwhile, the US and Vietnam have struck a trade agreement that set 20% tariffs on Vietnamese goods. With a neighbour next door with a significantly lower tariff, many companies may choose to leave Cambodia, said Yang Sophorn, president of the Cambodian Alliance of Trade Unions, which represents thousands of women who support their families as garment workers. The fear is echoed by experts in Bangladesh, which faces a 35% tariff. Selim Raihan, a professor of economics at the Dhaka University, said if tariff rates on Bangladesh's competitors like India, Indonesia and Vietnam prove to be lower, Bangladesh would face a serious competitive disadvantage. Such a disadvantage could make supply chain decision-making more difficult and erode the confidence of buyers and investors, Raihan told Context. 'As production costs rise and profit margins shrink due to the tariff, many garment factories may be forced to scale back operations or shut down entirely,' Raihan said. In Bangladesh, the 35% tariff announced by the US is more than twice the current 15% rates on Bangladeshi goods. 'With more than doubling tariff rates, can you imagine how the cost of the products will rise?' asked Mohiuddun Rubel, a former director of Bangladesh's garment manufacturers' association BGMEA and now additional managing director at textile maker Denim Expert Ltd. The question is what happens to the tariffs for main competitor countries like India and Pakistan, said Rubel. The US is negotiating a trade deal with India, while reciprocal tariff rates for Pakistan have not been announced yet. Outsized effect on women Potential layoffs within the garment industry will have an outsized effect on women workers, which Sophorn said would cripple entire families. 'If these women lose their jobs because high tariffs force factories to shut, it will not only impact Cambodia's economy, but now children may not be able to go to school and aging parents may not be able to afford medicine,' Sophorn said. 'The situation for women garment workers is already bad, but it will get worse if these tariffs were to come into effect.' Many of the women she represents have taken bank loans to support their families and work in the garment industry to pay off their debts. 'If they lose their job, it means they will lose everything,' Sophorn said. Tariffs would directly affect a sizable chunk of the four million workers in Bangladeshi's garment industry, most of whom are women from low income and rural backgrounds, Raihan said. Thorn suggested Cambodia continue negotiations to get the tariffs down or find other ways to export more products, generate more income and create more work. 'If not, we will face problems,' he said.
The Star
17-05-2025
- General
- The Star
Reclaiming motherhood after loss
Apple of their eye: (From left) Raihan, Ahmad Nazri and their son Ahmad Hafiy Haizen with Dahlia Diyani Naa'ira; Wati and Norizal with Nur Adriana. KLANG: After losing their own special needs children, two mothers discovered that the most healing path for their broken hearts is the one that leads them to channel their love towards other children facing similar challenges. They each adopted one of a pair of twin girls with Down syndrome, giving the sisters a loving home while preserving their bond. It began when Raihan Kamaruddin gave birth to her daughter Jasmin, who had Down syndrome, in 2014. 'Jasmin was also born with severe heart defects and an underdeveloped anus. 'She underwent three heart surgeries and remained in hospital from birth until she passed away the following year,' said the 47-year-old mother from Ipoh, Perak. Devastated, Raihan spent two years in grief until she received an invitation from a private orphanage in Kuala Lumpur. A visit to the home, accompanied by her husband and her teen son, changed everything. 'We were shown a pair of twins with Down syndrome. 'We fell head over heels for the younger girl,' Raihan said, adding that her husband Ahmad Nazri Md Rejab also felt an instant connection with the three-month-old baby. With the consent of the baby's mother – a foreigner impregnated by her employer – Raihan, who works at a legal firm, adopted the younger sibling Dahlia Diyani Naa'ira, as the family could not afford to raise both sisters. Back home, she could not stop thinking about the older twin, Orked Diyan Nahila, fearing the girl might grow up alone in the orphanage once her birth mother returned to her home country. She reached out to her friend Wati Hamzah, also 47, from a support group for mothers who had lost their special children, and asked if she would consider adopting the other child. Wati had lost her three-year-old daughter to leukaemia not long after Jasmin had passed away in 2015. She and her husband, lorry driver Norizal Salleh, brought the older girl back to their home in Melaka. The couple, who have four biological children aged 16, 18, 22 and 24, renamed their new daughter Nur Adriana Diyan after their late child. Although the sisters, now nine, are raised in separate homes, Raihan and Wati make sure they celebrate their birthday and Hari Raya together. 'We want their bond to remain strong as we can see how close they are and how much they love each other,' said Raihan. Although Nur Adriana Diyan is non-verbal and Dahlia Diyani Naa'ira has limited speech, the twins, who also face other health issues, seem to communicate well in their own special way. Wati said the girls have also brought both families closer. 'We are now like one big family, and we thank our special girls for bringing us all together,' she added. And now, Raihan's only concern is that her daughter has yet to be granted citizenship. 'Wati's daughter has already received citizenship as the adoption was formalised through the Welfare Department, but ours is still pending as we adopted the baby directly from the mother and the orphanage,' she said.
Hindustan Times
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Beyond startups to pop-ups in Bengaluru
Akhila Srinivas may well be Bengaluru's queen of pop-ups. Akhila runs The Courtyard, her family home now transformed into a gathering space, and The Conservatory, which has hosted a number of restaurant pop-ups that are not as expensive as the five-star ones but aren't cheap either (the range is from ₹1,500 to ₹6,000 per person per meal). What distinguishes her curations is that they are rooted in a specific cuisine prepared in a specific way. Consider the recent line-up: Sienna Café's Bengali food, Gingko Pune's Uzuki summer menu, the Maratha Kitchen's food and more. There are a lot of women chefs with interesting takes on their native and learned food, be it Goan or Keralite. A good indication of their popularity is that five-star chefs get on the wait-list to attend. So what's the feedback, I asked Akhila. 'Visiting chefs say that Bengaluru's diners are both adventurous and attentive to food,' she says. 'When a chef comes to explain the concept, the diners actually listen.' At the other end of the spectrum is the recently finished culinary pop-up at The Leela Palace Bengaluru with 3 Michelin-starred Chef Massimo Bottura. Priced at ₹50,000++ per person, the sold-out event attracted visitors from Bengaluru and nearby cities who don't hesitate to spend for high-end experiences brought to their doorstep. Bengaluru a la Delhi, you might say. I think of all this as I talk to Raihan Vadra, during the Bangalore Art Weekend that happened last month. Raihan is 25 and together with Svasa Life magazine, Platform Magazine, The Usual Suspects India community, brand-agency Form & Flow and other collaborators, he put together a weekend of panel discussions, art, music and fashion, all held at Sabha, a restored bungalow in Kamaraj Road. I try not to bring up his mother, Priyanka, his father, Robert, both of whom have been in the news. Instead, I ask the Delhi-based visual-artist about how Bangalore is different from the events that he has organised in Delhi and Mumbai. Well, for one thing, Bangaloreans actually listen, he replies, echoing what Akhila said. In Delhi, young people quickly lose interest in hour-long panel-discussions. In Bengaluru, as I witnessed, there were panel discussions held over two days, on topics ranging from conscious living to making films. A full house of people mostly in their 20s and 30s sat patiently and listened. The second thing Raihan mentioned was the fact that the entire weekend was alcohol-free, which would be unheard of in Delhi. Kombucha was on offer from Dad's Hack, created by Bengaluru boy, Zeshan Rahaman. But the sessions were still packed with folks, chatting and viewing art. In Delhi, said Raihan, unless it is a 'party,' meaning unless there is alcohol, it is hard to get folks to attend. The last thing he mentioned was that there seemed to be a 'hunger for art and culture' here in Bangalore. Now this is something that feels contradictory. On the one hand, talk to art galleries like Sakshi and Sumukha and they will say that Bangaloreans don't buy, or appreciate art. We may have our startup billionaires but culture, we lack. Even Chennai buys more art, they will say. But that may refer to older folks who have the means to buy fine art. The youth of Bangalore have a hunger for other forms of culture including zines (self-made magazines), graphic art and manga. Bangalore Art Weekend was nominally about art, but it also had workshops on zine-making, sketching and design. The panel discussions included performance poetry, ad films, discussions on reclaiming public spaces, mental health, upcycling clothes, getting off social media and living a slower, more intentional life. Designers sold clothes. But most importantly, people stayed back to listen. My favourite recent pop-up was an exhibition of embroidery artworks by 10 Lambadi artisans who undertook a residency under the guidance of Bangalore-based fashion-designer Anshu Arora, who along with her husband, Jason Cherian founded a label called The Small Shop. Anshu connected with The Porgai Artisans Association where over 60 women who belong to the Lambadi tribe relearned the embroidery techniques that was their heritage. What Anshu did over a four-month residency was nudge them into making embroidery art so that it could be elevated to gallery spaces and command a lot more money. So ten women volunteered and created a stunning variety of artworks that were sold in Sabha. I attended a panel discussion on the last day in which the visionary founder of Tribal Health Initiative (under which Porgai operates), Lalitha Regi spoke about how crafts such as the Lambadi embroidery could be brought back from the brink of disappearance. As I stood and gazed at the intricate embroidery panels hung in the museum-like space, I felt as if I were in the beautiful Sittilingi Valley where these women live and work among birds, bees, trees and butterflies. (Shoba Narayan is Bengaluru-based award-winning author. She is also a freelance contributor who writes about art, food, fashion and travel for a number of publications.)
