Celeb Stop

Wednesday May 7, 2008

Maya Karin & mum

Mother's Day doesn't figure in the calendar for multi-talented celebrity Maya Karin and her mother. They don't even know the exact date. But they believe in celebrating the event every day.

By MARIAN EU

MAYA Karin is solicitous over her mother, turning off the air-conditioning in the hotel suite, and throwing a bathrobe over her when she complains of the cold.

The photo shoot and interview is over. Mum has just been given a preview of the L'Oreal White Perfect commercial that Maya starred in, and which would be shown on TV in June.

From the start you could feel the bond between them. Maya being on more familiar ground, has taken charge and is giving her mum a look over. The multi-tasking star decides she'd look better in a different blouse for the photo shoot.

No surprise that the acclaimed actress, TV personality, singer and ambassador for L'Oreal International thinks her youthful-looking mum, Che Zan, is great. "We are very close. I guess I won't be here without her. I'm the first born, and my mum and I are the only ones left in Malaysia."

Her father and siblings are in Vietnam, Mexico and London respectively. Her brother is teaching English and German in the University of Mexico; her sister who used to be in politics, has gone back to study law in London.

It has not been a protected childhood for Maya. She grew up in Padang, West Sumatra, where her father worked, from the age of two. The family thrived in the wilderness there. "We came back here more than 10 years ago.

"Our upbringing was very wild. They would throw us into the river and say "swim lah". Or go climb that tree. We explored our physical limits, enjoyed the sun and rain. I'm still very outdoorsy as a result. Now I love walking round the park in Taman Tun Dr Ismail (in Kuala Lumpur).

"Mum would ask me to try all sorts of extra-curricular activities. I did Balinese dancing, piano and swimming classes. My brother learnt how to play the trombone."

When she grew older, she was sent to grooming classes. She was just 13. It was to improve her posture and teach her how to walk properly. "She encouraged me to go into modelling.''

"She started doing TV commercials when she was 13, in Indonesia,'' recalls Che Zan. "She was supposed to be 25, in a hair shampoo commercial. She was so small and her partner so tall that they had to put her on a soap box!"

Maya likens her mother with superstar Beyonce's.

"She would also design and sew my clothes for beauty contests, a bit like Beyonce's mum. All that helped make me what I am.''

Maya has to see her mum at least once every two days "or else I will miss her." Although they live together, sometimes she has to go away on a shoot, or "when I come in she is asleep, and when I awake she is gone.

Che Zan is a working mum, dabbling in real estate. "She has been buying and selling property for the past 15 years," said Maya. "She used to work in the town planning department in KL; that's how she met my Dad. Both of them are town planners."

Still, they find time for each other. "The other day we went to watch Celine Dion. We hang out in the kitchen and cook. We give each other cooking tips."

Mother and daughter do their hair, or have facials together. Her mother would buy her face masks and creams. "Sometimes when I'm eating, she would put cream or mask on my face.

"I used to steal her makeup when I was still in school. I would wash it off when she came back."

"She was wild," said her mother.

"I jumped on her back when I was five or six. She was startled and I landed on my head. I had two sets of stitches," explained Maya.

"Both my mum and dad are no-nonsense parents. There's no crying for attention. We got walloped. In comparison, parenting these days has become paranoid.

"One of the reasons three of us are successful is that they threw us into the deep end. It made us strong. We are confident in ourselves.

"Nowadays teenagers fall into the trap of being cool and get into trouble because of other kids. The way we were brought up helped us to stand up to other kids and not pressured into doing something we shouldn't. If our car or clothes are not that expensive we are not bothered."

Maya and her siblings were taught not to expect luxuries. "Sometimes I suffered because of that. My father's company would pay for a five-star hotel in Jakarta, for instance, but he would say we're happy with the three-star. It encouraged us to work hard to appreciate the good things. My dad can live on rice and salted fish; he's a very simple person."

"We're very similar people I think," she said of her mum. "We are quite secure about what we are."

Both like to dress casually. Simple and stylishly, without not too many frills or embellishments.

What does she like most about her mum?

"It's her simplicity and humility. I told her about the shoot and interview today only yesterday, so that she can't back out."

At Maya's film premieres, mum remains low-key, and sits far back.

"At the end of the day we are very low-profile people."

What would she be doing for her mum on Mothers Day?

"We are not fussed over Mothers Day. We don't even know when it is. We celebrate it every day, why wait for that one day? It's more important for those who don't live at home."

For the past two years mother and daughter have been going back to Penang for Raya. "Mum's from Penang. Her family is there, and they still speak Tamil. She's a mix of Malay, Indian and Chinese," said Maya.

"I'm the true Malaysian," interjected Che Zan.

This summer Maya and mum will be having a holiday with her siblings in Germany. "Family holidays are a big thing with us, but it's hard to coordinate. Sometimes I have to stay behind and work. "

Maya is now working on an environmental TV show. Both mother and daughter are very earth-friendly. They do not take plastic bags when shopping nor leave air-conditioning on in the car while waiting for someone. They rear worms and chickens in their garden, at their home in Sungai Penchala.

"The worms are for the environment; we give our vegetable waste and fruit to them,'' says Che Zan. ``We don't eat chickens from the supermarket any more. We plant a lot of vegetables too. Both of us are very health conscious."

"She is my first child, so I taught her to take care of her siblings. I had to travel to Europe sometimes and left the children with the maid.''

Obviously Maya took charge with aplomb. She also had a mind of her own. "We didn't push the children. I wanted Maya to be a swimmer but she said no, so I said never mind. My son was very good in sports but I never put any pressure on him. Later they asked me why I didn't push them."

Versatility in everything came with being part of a small private school population (just 15!) in Indonesia. "They had to do everything there, including sing and dance!" said Che Zan. "Whatever she liked I encouraged. Maya was always a leader.

"When she was small she wanted to be a CEO. Her youngest sister wanted to be an actress. Now they have switched roles.

"Maya is very honest. She will not give up her soul for money or status. She's never jealous of others. What she doesn't like, she says it out. Sometimes it hurts me a bit but she doesn't hide her feelings.

"At one time we smoked for a few months," said Maya. "But we would always do it in front of mum."

Was she a wild teenager? Maya smiled as she recalled how she climbed through the window once, coming home at 4am. "She didn't talk to me the whole day. But it was my birthday and she still made me a cake."

"I treat her more like a friend than a daughter. I told her next time, don't treat your daughter like your friend. We fight like friends. I have seen all her movies, and I offer criticisms too," said Che Zan.

Mum follows Maya on her shoots sometimes. She'd do taiqi while her daughter goes through her wakeup riuals.

Maya is shooting two commercials and looking into music endorsements again. She would like to go back to singing, she said.