Chanda: Feels like starting all over again

Chanda Romero has always been known for expressing herself in poetic ways. Thus, when she describes a role as "a rebirth in my career," you don’t raise an eyebrow and gape in surprise the way you do when other stars describe their feelings.

And we’re talking about an award-winning actress whose career spans 33 years with top directors (e.g. Lino Brocka and Augusto Buenaventura) and leading men (Christopher de Leon, Phillip Salvador, Dindo Fernando).

But you read it right. Chanda doesn’t feel and strut like a veteran at all on the set of Joel Lamangan’s Vietnam Rose (to premiere tomorrow on ABS-CBN). Chanda may, as she modestly put it, "chanced upon acting nominations" for Maryo J. delos Reyes’ Naglalayag last year. But this doesn’t give her a license to feel overconfident and smug, even before younger Vietnam Rose co-stars who have spent less years in the business than her (like Assunta de Rossi, Angelica Panganiban, Jay Manalo and John Estrada).

In fact, Chanda was shaking in her boots when she faced her Vietnam Rose director for the first time.

"I was scared like hell," she admits. "The first time direk Joel and I worked together was as actors in the play Flores Para Los Muertos in 1977. That was so long ago," Chanda explains.

Thus, her fears were understandable. Her director’s reputation for perfection and attention to detail didn’t allay her fears any. So when Chanda reported on the set, she didn’t act like the seasoned actress many showbiz watchers know her to be. Chanda became a meek follower of co-star Maricel Soriano’s instructions.

"I was always tugging at her sleeve, following Marya (Maricel’s nickname), whenever she told me to face this or that direction. She was actually telling me where the camera was!" recalls Chanda.

The lost feeling vanished as the taping progressed, however. Chanda, as the mystic Vida, who took Maricel under her wings when the latter first arrived in the Philippines from Vietnam, soon learned to relax. The much-feared outbursts of temper from her director never occurred.

But the willingness to learn more, the humility to admit she’s terrified of her director, remain. It’s the hallmark of artists who care enough for their craft to keep on looking for ways to improve themselves.

By refusing to rest on her laurels, Chanda proves she is one such rarity.

"I may be competent, but I’m not the best," she concedes, adding, "It’s not good to be complacent. I take every role – big or small –seriously. I have yet to reach my peak as an actress."

Her role as Vida marks a 180-degree turn from Chanda’s hitherto contravida characters. Chanda as Vida is nurturing, with no mean bone in her body. And she revels at this chance to prove herself in a goody-two-shoes role.

She has every reason to feel excited. As a mystic, Vida sees things others don’t. When something good is about to happen, the flowers in Vida’s garden are in full bloom, awash in a rainbow of colors. When tragedy is poised to strike, Vida suddenly sees a raging fire right before her eyes.

No wonder Chanda gladly packed her bags in Cebu (where she lives in a big house with her father) and went to Manila for her new teleseries. She also joined the cast and 35-man production team in shooting several scenes in Ho Chi Minh City, where most of the teleseries highlights took place.

After hundreds of films, acting trophies, a slew of nominations and colorful experiences as an actress since she was in her teens, Chanda Romero feels like a neophyte again. And she’s not ashamed to show that like most beginners, she is nervous but eager and raring to learn. It’s this knack for discovery, for seeing things in a new light that make her an artist in every sense of the word. It’s this ability to shun the ho-hum, to take on roles she has never done before, that will make Chanda last even longer in a business notorious for its fickle, unpredictable ways.