Djadoeg Djajakusuma ([dʒaˈdʊʔ dʒajakuˈsuma]; 1 August 1918 – 28 October 1987) was an Indonesian film director and promoter of traditional art forms. Born to a nobleman and his wife in Temanggung, Central Java, Djajakusuma became interested in the arts at a young age, choosing to pursue a career in theatre. During the Japanese occupation from 1943 to 1945 he was a translator and actor, and in the four-year national revolution which followed he worked for the military's educational division, several news agencies, and in drama.
In 1951, Djajakusuma joined the National Film Corporation (Perfini) at the invitation of Usmar Ismail. After making his directorial debut with Embun, Djajakusuma released a further eleven films with the company before leaving in 1964. He then returned to traditional Indonesian theatre, including wayang. Although he continued to direct movies independently of Perfini, most of his energies were dedicated to promoting traditional art forms and teaching cinematography. After over a decade of poor health and high blood pressure, Djajakusuma collapsed during a ceremony and died. He was buried in Karet Bivak Cemetery.
The dedicated but easily angered Djajakusuma was influenced by Usmar Ismail's realist views, although he focused more on traditional aspects of life. His theatrical performances attempted to modernize traditional forms so that they could be better received in a modern world. He is credited with revitalising the Betawi theatre form lenong and received numerous awards for his filmmaking, including a lifetime achievement award at the Indonesian Film Festival.
Djajakusuma was born on 1 August 1918 in Parakan, Temanggung, Central Java, Dutch East Indies, to a priyayi father, Raden Mas Aryo Djojokoesomo, and his wife Kasimah. Djajakusuma was the fifth child of six born to the couple, who lived comfortably off Djojokoesomo's salary as a government official. While young he enjoyed watching stage performances, such as wayang puppetry and the traditional dance form tayuban; at times he would furtively leave his home after bedtime to watch the productions. With his friends, he would act out the bedtime stories his mother told him. When imported Hollywood films began to be screened, he was an avid viewer, watching Westerns and works starring Charlie Chaplin.
Owing to his position as the son of a nobleman, Djajakusuma was able to receive an education. He completed his studies in Semarang, Central Java, graduating from the natural sciences programme at a senior high school there in 1941. Although his family hoped that he would become a government employee like his father, Djajakusuma decided to go into the performing arts. He returned to his hometown for a short time before realising that he would have little opportunity in Parakan. Accordingly, in early 1943 – almost a year after the Indies were occupied by the Empire of Japan – Djajakusuma moved to the colony's political centre, Jakarta, to find work.
Djajakusuma became employed at the Cultural Centre as a translator and actor under Armijn Pane. Among the works he translated were several pieces by the Swedish playwright August Strindberg and Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, as well as a history of Japan and several kabuki stage plays. While with the centre, Djajakusuma wrote several of his own stage plays. In his free time, Djajakusuma helped establish the amateur theatre company Maya, together with artists such as HB Jassin, Rosihan Anwar, and Usmar Ismail. The troupe, formed in response to a desire for greater artistic freedom, performed translations of European works and original works by Ismail and El Hakim. To promote a sense of Indonesian nationalism while still conforming with the Japanese censorship bureau's rules, several of Maya's plays did not explicitly promote Japan, but rather the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. Themes supporting the Indonesian nationalist movement, meanwhile, remained implicit in the works. With Maya, Djajakusuma travelled from village to village, putting on performances.
Indonesian National Revolution
President Sukarno proclaimed Indonesia's independence on 17 August 1945, days after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Expecting the Dutch colonial government to return, Djajakusuma and Ismail helped establish the Independent Artists (Seniman Merdeka) as a form of resistance. The group travelled throughout the city, spreading news of Indonesia's proclaimed independence while performing from an open-air truck. After the arrival of the Netherlands Indies Civil Administration, the group sometimes attempted to spy on the Europeans or hide information which would be considered useful to the returning Dutch forces. Owing to this dangerous work, Djajakusuma began carrying a pistol, and went to Banten to ask a kyai to make him impervious to bullets.
In early 1946, with the Dutch colonial forces in control of Jakarta, Djajakusuma fled to the new national capital at Yogyakarta. There, he spent a time with the national news agency Antara before joining the military's educational division, rising to the rank of captain. For the military Djajakusuma edited the weekly Tentara; he also contributed articles to Ismail's cultural magazine Arena. Despite his involvement in the press, he did not abandon the theatre; with Surjo Sumanto, he established a troupe which performed for soldiers and raised morale, sometimes travelling to the frontlines.
Djajakusuma was hired by the Ministry of Information in 1947 to teach at a school for the performance arts, the Mataram Entertainment Foundation (Stichting Hiburan Mataram). Through Mataram, he and Ismail were introduced to filmmakers Andjar Asmara, Huyung, and Sutarto; the two studied under these more established individuals. Meanwhile, Djajakusuma was put in charge of censoring radio broadcasts in Republican-held areas, a duty he held until the Dutch captured Yogyakarta on 19 December 1948. Djajakusuma fled the city, then met up with Republican forces. Using an old radio and a bicycle-powered generator, Djajakusuma listened to international news broadcasts and wrote them down; the information from these broadcasts was then printed in underground newspapers.
After the Indonesian National Revolution ended with Dutch recognition of Indonesia's independence in 1949, Djajakusuma continued to work as a journalist for Patriot (a rebranding of Tentara) and the magazine Kebudajaan Nusantara; Mataram was reopened, and Djajakusuma began teaching there again while managing the Soboharsono cinema and writing several stage plays. Ismail, meanwhile, went back to Jakarta and established the National Film Corporation (Perusahaan Film Nasional, or Perfini); its first production, Darah dan Doa (The Long March), which gave a fictionalised version of the Siliwangi Division's trek from Yogyakarta to West Java in 1948, was directed by Ismail and released in 1950.
In preparation for his second film, Enam Djam di Jogja (Six Hours in Yogyakarta), Ismail recalled Djajakusuma to Jakarta. For the film, Djajakusuma helped Ismail adapt the General Assault of 1 March 1949 for the screen. Production was completed on a low budget; Djajakusuma later recalled that their camera had to be powered by a car battery. Despite this and other difficulties, Djajakusuma stayed on after the film's completion, completing another work for Perfini, Dosa Tak Berampun (Unforgivable Sin), later that year. Ismail served as director for this film, about a man who leaves his family after he is transfixed by the smile of a waitress.
While Ismail, who remained head of Perfini, went abroad to study cinematography at the School of Theater, Film and Television at the University of California, Los Angeles, Djajakusuma began taking a larger role in Perfini. He made his directorial debut in 1952 with Embun (Dewdrop), which showed the psychological troubles faced by soldiers upon returning to their village after the revolution. The film was shot in Wonosari, at the time in the middle of a drought, to provide a visual metaphor for the barren souls of the warriors. Because of its depiction of traditional superstitions, the film had trouble with both the censorship bureau and critics; superstition was considered incompatible with the new republic's need for modernisation. The release of Embun made Djajakusuma one of four directors to work for Perfini; the others were Ismail, Nya Abas Akup, and Wahyu Sihombing.