In our latest digital cover, we go ‘head-to-head’ with the multi-hyphenated actors Adil Luca and Ahirine Ahirudin as they muse on their mutual passion for sports, their intrinsic competitive nature, and how it drives them further in their respective acting careers.
On a warm afternoon where the walls of Sage’s lounge and bar are dappled with sunlight, the space seems as if it’s been split into two. In the left corner Adil Luca is poised by the banquette, quietly taking his lunch. To my right, Ahirine Ahirudin is flitting about restlessly, laughing as she reaches her hands up to fix her ponytail. The unfolding scene speaks volumes: former national fencer Adil moves with a certain elegance; adrenaline junkie Ahirine carries with her fitful bursts of energy.
It is unsurprising to see Ahirine as animated as she is right now. She’s no doubt still riding high after the success of her film, Tebus: The Movie released last August, where she starred as the female lead. But Ahirine is first and foremost a lover of adventure, and all things automotive. Her first job was writing for the New Straits Times’ Cars, Bikes and Trucks column, into which she poured her entire soul for two long years. Since then, Ahirine has adroitly navigated between her beloved Yamaha motorcycle, her Toyota Vios race car, and her own body in kickboxing and muay thai.
“It runs in the family,” Ahirine says casually, when I ask where this deep love of motor vehicles comes from. “My dad is a hardcore biker, and my brother’s also into cars.”
Ahirine has the ‘biker chick’ aesthetic down to a T. Contrasted against her doe eyes, with her dark hair pulled back into a taut ponytail and jet-black Moschino skirt hugging her hips, she is the picture of femme fatale; of feminine danger. Meanwhile, Adil — who cognitively spent a decade of his life fencing — with his elfin face and chiselled features, cuts a graceful figure. Fencing is a game that’s not only physical; it requires mental strategy and postural response. It is a fine art, and it’s plain to see that even after almost ten years since Adil was last active in the sport, the delicate approach that comes with it has not left him.
“I grew up watching a lot of Zorro and Star Wars,” he tells me with a sheepish laugh, “so, it was the lightsabers and the sword fighting that I found very cool. And then on top of that, James Bond also had a fencing scene. I think I just saw a certain elegance about fencing compared to any other sport.”
As soon as the actors are fitted for our June digital cover shoot, the finishing touch is brought forth: the Tissot Seastar 40mm, the brand’s new addition to its beloved Seastar collection. Embodying the spirit of adventure, resilience and reliability, it couldn’t have been a more fitting accessory for our pair of cover stars.
Broadening the horizons
To wholly dedicate oneself to a sport takes guts, especially one as unconventional as fencing. In Malaysia, fencing is often seen as an elite sport, an ‘aristocrat’s pastime’ — much like equestrian sports or cricket. But it’s not as exclusive as one might think. Our very own late Ronnie Theseira competed in the Olympics back in 1964, and his protégé Mok Chek Wlong is currently training aspiring young fencers.
In 2005, Adil was one of these aspiring young fencers himself. At ten years old, the appeal of the sport that drew him to it was no more than the fact that “it looked cool” — but later, it’s his own competitive nature that made him stay.
“They had a free trial at school,” he recounts. “I think personally, it’s very easy for me to pick up any sport. After maybe two months, I competed in an inter-house competition. And although I didn’t win, the coach saw some potential in me, and he encouraged me to actually pursue this seriously. I went on to compete nationally, and even though I lost that one as well, the national coach happened to be there and he told me, ‘You have potential.’ I was recruited into the national programme, and after that it was just smooth-flowing. And I did that for my whole life, I guess.”
Adil talks of fencing with a faraway look in his eyes, as if it were an old friend; all sparkly-eyed stories of a past life. There’s a lot that can be said about the sport itself, but ultimately it’s what fencing taught Adil that he would carry with him forever. “In fencing, it’s 15 points to score,” he begins, illustrating it for me, “so, one point at a time. And back when I played in the SUKMA competition, I did just okay. Not amazing. And I was not too happy because I thought I could do better. After that, when it was time for the knockout round, I was feeling down because I was still thinking about it. So when we were fighting, it got to 14 points for the opponent and seven for me. One more point and he wins, right? And that was already the quarter-finals.”
As Adil recounts the moment, his hands seem to start taking a life of their own, eager to retell the story with him. “I’m someone who doesn’t give up,” he goes on. “No matter what, I will never give up. So, from that 14-7 score, I was able to win the game 15-14. I guess the lesson from that is, it’s never over till it’s over, you know? Just because sometimes you might lose hope or you think you’re at your lowest point, ready to give up — never think it’s over until it’s really over.”
Fencing has given him, among other things, the ability to keep a cool head. If you’ve seen any sword fighting scene — whether it’s Antonio Banderas’ Zorro duelling with Captain Love in The Mask of Zorro or, my personal favourite, the iconic Princess Bride scene where ‘Dread Pirate Roberts’ goes against Inigo Montoya — then you’ll know that self-assurance is part of the play. After all, the characters always say the coolest one-liners right before a duel.
“I am very good at self-regulating, in the sense that I know how to live in the moment,” Adil muses. “I know how to take things one step at a time, no matter what the problem is. And my outlook on life is very simple. Fencing has taught me to be calm and to take things one step at a time.”
Perhaps it’s this same outlook that led Adil to continue striving for success in his life, even after retiring from the sport. “I’m a ‘go big or go home’ kind of person,” he says. “If I do something, I want to be the best. If I can’t be the best, then I won’t do it.” After the 2015 SEA Games, Adil took his departure from the sport, citing a lack of funding support from the government and the sports politics as the reason. He dived into the world of business, pursuing economics at the University of California, Berkeley (the top public university in the world, in true fashion of Adil’s desire to “be the best”) before working in private equity. Even his eventual foray into the acting sphere is ‘business first’ — he had received offers to act locally for some time, and later from Indonesia as well.
“Ater thinking about how attractive the Indonesian market is, and how it’s so big, with the advancement in movie production, quality and everything,” Adil opens up, “I thought I’d give it a shot. Because the network that you build in entertainment is very useful in the business world as well, so I thought, why not do both?”
Of course, establishing himself as an actor in Indonesia came with a brand new set of challenges. The language, for one thing. But just as he did with fencing, he approached it with a cool head. “I knew that to be successful in Indonesia, you have to be fluent in Bahasa Indonesia, and I’m the type of guy who believes that I can do anything,” he says with a laugh. “I’m just very confident, I guess. I was like, give me the challenge and I can do it.” Adil spent a month learning everything from scratch, from Netflix and online classes to spending two weeks conversing with the locals in Javanese. His first role was as a teacher who’s also a French expat, and so he spoke Indonesian with a trace of an accent. Now after two years, Adil has fully moved on to local Indonesian roles, his most recent being the Viu drama Marriage with Benefits and film Layangan Putus: The Movie.
Where passion and profession intertwine
Ahirine’s leap from the rough-hewn lifestyle to the world of showbiz took a much more natural course. After her writing stint with NST, she officially made the leap into the industry after my internship at Astro HLive, where was a broadcast journalist. Because of her daredevil and adventurous spirit, her foray into film was through Gol & Gincu Vol. 2, the sequel to the iconic 2005 feminist film Gol & Gincu. She joined the cast as both stunt performer and to play the body double for Ummi Nazeera’s character Zak — just as she briefly did for Rebecca Lim in the Singaporean-Malaysian film The Bridge before that.
“I was 20 years old when I got a call from my friend,” Ahirine says proudly, “and I got to ride a Moto Guzzi all the way to Singapore for the shoot, and it happened to be my first solo ride!” Her acting inspiration? Gina Carano in the film Haywire (and I totally get it). “I watched her beating people up [in the movie], and ever since that day being an action actress has always been a dream of mine.”
Besides roughing it on the road, Ahirine’s adventurous spirit also extends to fighting. “I would describe myself as a super amateur fighter, I’ve only been in three fights,” muses the 28-year-old kickboxer and muay thai fighter. “Well, initially my plan was just to learn how to throw proper punches and kicks so that I could look better on the screens, but next thing I knew, I was already stepping in the ring to fight!”
She currently trains at Merican and according to Ahirine, her favourite move is the right kick followed by a cross, which sounds (and looks!) just as cool as most of the iconic fights you see in films. “It’s definitely not just about physical prowess,” Ahirine says on what makes her a true ‘fighter’, “but also mental and spiritual strength that extends beyond training and competition to all aspects of life.”
Now as she grows her acting portfolio, Ahirine has set on the journey of improving her craft. Her stunts are only one, physically demanding aspect of it: “I remember doing fight stunts for Tebus: The Movie where I was thrown against the wall multiple times by other stunt actors, I couldn’t laugh for a good one week!” But her characters are another thing altogether. “Since I’ve always been acting with a helmet on, acting without is definitely a challenge,” she shares. “I’ll have to work on my facial expressions more, so this is something out of my comfort zone. But of course, there are always coaches and other actors around to help me develop the skills I need. My goal is to always dive deeper into the character and let the character speak for itself on screen.”
Tebus allowed Ahirine to take the reins as a lead actress. Alongside Aedy Ashraf’s Johan, Ahirine’s Ana is a feisty, sharp-tongued girl with a knack for danger and excitement. “It’s a mix of everything, from action stunts to a roller coaster of emotions — something I never thought I would be able to do,” she says, still starstruck by the whole experience. “Making sure that I am not compromising my integrity or well-being for the sake of the character is how I keep my authenticity while portraying characters. For now, I would enjoy doing more action scenes but if it is something that challenges me in new ways that would be exciting too.”
Looking ahead
What Adil and Ahirine both have in common is that they are relatively new to the acting scene. And while they’ve both moulded themselves as actors through their respective past experiences, they are also both still looking for even more challenging roles to take on — to be able to prove themselves in such a fast-moving, competitive industry as the entertainment world.
“I’ve acted as a businessman, and this was particularly easy due to my years of experience in corporate finance,” Adil shares. He has a more careful, almost calculative approach to his characters, thanks to his background as a UX designer. “I’ve played the third person in a love triangle a few times — I find this role interesting because it required me to play an antagonist with a strong aura in order to challenge the hero of the story. But my dream role? The unexpected psychopath, somewhat like Joe Goldberg in Netflix’s You. On the surface, an average Joe but has a very multi-dimensional character, mysterious and mischievous. Captivating yet perilous, commanding yet sadistic, affectionate yet veiled in secrecy and deception.” And then, with a cheeky laugh, “Or a superhero!”
For Ahirine, she’s looking forward to more action roles where she gets to shine. “I feel like maybe we could spice things up here even more,” she says of the local entertainment scene. “Maybe have more action flicks where women kick butt too? Having more ladies in the stunt scene would be fun too!”
editor-in-chief & creative direction MARTIN TEO | words PUTERI YASMIN SURAYA | assisted by RONN TAN | graphic design JOYCE LIM | photography ERIC CHOW of BLINK STUDIO | videography ALIFETIME PROJEXT | hair JUNO KO | makeup SHIYO JOO | styling ISAAC CHONG | styling assistant ZI YIN | timepieces TISSOT | wardrobe MOSCHINO, MSGM & MAJE | location SAGE RESTAURANT & WINE BAR
Find out more about ADIL LUCA & AHIRINE AHIRUDIN in the latest issue of LSA Digital Cover Vol. 021 HERE.
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Written by
Puteri Yasmin Suraya
Senior Writer, Features and Tech
Hailing from an English Literature & Creative Writing background, Yasmin has a deep love for fiction and poetry. When she’s not reading or café-hopping, she spends most of her time in the comfort of her own room binge-watching period romances, (badly) belting out show tunes, and curating Spotify playlists to match her mood for the week.
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