Leaving his hideout in a secluded hamlet in Purwokerto, Central Java, Tohari returned again to Jakarta to attend a screening of Sang Penari (The Dancer) on Wednesday morning, which was inspired by his famous trilogy Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk (A Dancing Girl of Paruk Village).
But this is not the first time the epic was made into a film. In 1983, filmmaker Yazman Yazid brought the characters in the book alive onscreen with a 96-minute film titled Darah dan Mahkota Ronggeng (Blood and Crown of the Dancing Girl).
However, Tohari vowed never to watch the film for he felt disappointed that his novel, which has been praised as one of the greats of Indonesian literature, ended up a cheap pseudo-porn flick in Yazman’s hands.
Twenty-eight years later, big names in the movie industry — top producer Shanty Harman (Pasir Berbisik or Whispering Sands, The Photograph and Banyu Biru), award-winning screenwriter Salman Aristo (Ayat-Ayat Cinta or Verses of Love and Laskar Pelangi or Rainbow Troops) and talented new director Ifa Isfansyah (Garuda di Dadaku or Garuda in My Heart) — made a second attempt to reinterpret the masterpiece.
This time the maestro loved it, forcing him out of his peaceful exile in Tinggar Jaya village, 27 kilometers from Purwokerto, to celebrate the movie, which took four years to make.
“Ifa has succeeded in grasping the spirit of the novel,” the 63-year-old said, praising the work of the young director in a recent interview with The Jakarta Post.
The bespectacled man even confessed that Ifa had made him cry with scenes that exposed the mass killing of innocents by the military because of their alleged connection with communism.
“[Ifa] is braver than me,” said Tohari, who could not say much in his book about the violence of the 1960s because of oppression from the authorities when the novel was written.
Sporting a black cap and simple white shirt and black trousers, Tohari looked very humble against the crowds of celebrities and people attending the movie screening for the media in Jakarta.
His modest appearance, however, didn’t prevent him from being the star at the event. When the show was over, fans and book lovers swarmed Tohari, asking him to sign their books or take pictures with them.
“I never liked Jakarta,” he said.
“Maybe I am just too old,” he told the Post with a laugh while signing books.
Tohari once worked in Jakarta as an editor for numerous publications in the 1970s and 1980s. But, the man decided to return to his village because he felt he did not belong in the city.
“I felt alienated like an ant walking in the desert,” said the former editor of Merdeka.
It was a wise decision after all, because most of Tohari’s works were inspired by things not far from his home.
In a previous interview with the Post, he revealed that a river near his home had given birth to many ideas for books, including Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk, which has been translated into English, Japanese, Dutch, German and Chinese.
The proximity of the writer of 11 novels to nature has helped hone his skills at describing his surroundings in detail. Critics have acknowledged Tohari’s mastery in making the environment in his books come alive in readers’ imaginations.
He is also known as a writer of the poor, with many of his works telling the story of unfortunate persons living in remote villages trying to survive under the country’s social, political and economic pressures.
The book lover said his works had brought him to a cultural mission of empowering those people.
And in the same spirit, the writer is currently busy running a local magazine in his town, preserving the local Banyumasan language.
Few people speak Banyumasan, putting the language at the brink of extinction, he said.
With the spirit of promoting the local dialect, Tohari set up the magazine Ancas, meaning vision, in 2009 with 10 people.
Yet, Tohari has managed to develop the publication, completely written in Banyumasan, from a circulation of 2,000 at the beginning to 3,500 currently.
Apart from running a magazine, the man who prefers to be called Akang (brother) is also involved in activities to empower young local writers.
“I have made a commitment to support the birth of young writers surrounding me,” said Tohari, who has endorsed three short story compilations by his juniors.
He has been encouraging young authors to set up an independent publishing house so they don’t need to be dependent on big publishing companies to publish their works.
Life is quite busy for Tohari nowadays but he continues to write.
“I want to make one more novel that matches Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk [in quality],” said the writer, who said it took him four years to complete the book.
He told the Post that his upcoming book will tell the story of a child whose parents are allegedly
involved with communism.
But when will he stop writing?
“When I become used to my surroundings, that means I have lost my power [to write],” the man answered.
But, as long as political and social conditions still anger him, Tohari says he will always continue to write.
“If I am still capable of being angry seeing rampant corruption or children whose school buildings are broken, or my neighbors who cannot get to the doctor... If I still can get mad at the government, legislators, the President, that means I still have fuel [to write],” he said.
So, let’s wait for the return of this writer of the people and his new novel.
