Words: Garrin Faturrahman
Photo: Visinema Studios

If you haven’t watched the film, maybe you’ve heard of the song first. Or maybe you’ve seen fanarts of the characters, too. Whichever the route, they all serve as a proof to just how profound and gigantic did JUMBO reach us. As the director himself puts it, the full-length animation film has stood amongst giants in the Indonesian cinema league.

The director himself would be Ryan Adriandhy. One who some might remember as the trailblazer of local stand-up comedy reaching mainstream status, a star in one of the memorable YouTube skits in recent memory, and a friend. The final one in which can be felt in so many ways the moment JUMBO took itself onto silver screens—from local artists finding extra confidence in making art to Malaysian animation studios cheering on for Don and friends, seems we all did find a friend in him and his work.

On the 19th of April, our interview with Ryan Adriandhy was cut short due to an unforeseen tragedy on our end. We’d like to extend our personal gratidude to Ryan himself for understanding the shock on that day. All that happened goes to show just how Ryan has his big heart on JUMBO’s sleeves, and why his heartfelt work of love is immensely human in all of its sequences.

Now, as JUMBO is nearing its 10-million watchers mark, we picked up where our conversation with Ryan left off on topics surrounding the many nuances of the world built around Don, the cultural sensibilities brought to life by Ryan and Visinema Studios, to some easter eggs in the film.

Following your journey (online, at least) from JUMBO being developed up until its very release, and watching its overwhelmingly warm welcome from the public has been a tear-jerker in itself. Congrats! On a scale of 1–10, how would you rate the crowd’s reaction so far?

Aduh, I think if you only give me that range, I wouldn’t be able to answer! Karena, kayaknya beyond… I couldn’t put a number on it because it went beyond my team’s wildest expectation—even to hit 1 million admissions, it wasn’t even in our minds.

It’s because when we made this with Visinema Studios, we saw the precedent performance of locally animated films in Indonesia, and the highest was just, like, slightly above half a million. So, to even reach 1 million admissions and then see how it became more than just a conversation, it became more than just a review, suddenly it felt like an event. An event that people celebrated—it’s so crazy that this morning (19/04/25), we just received the report that we hit 5 million admissions. 5 million admissions! For something that we developed since before the COVID-19 pandemic, from the ideation, from the script, and then we released in Eid Holiday 2025.

And then we saw… -I mean, you even told me that you felt seen, felt something resolved, so it is more than just entertainment, more than just a cinematic spectacle. It felt like we could connect with the people who watched it.

I couldn’t put a number on it. Maybe JUMBO out of 10.

Rather than an event, maybe a phenomenon, mas Ryan?

I think I would agree. The thing is, I once felt this kind of euphoria, but I was in the audience seat. It was for Petualangan Sherina, right in the year 2000. I felt the conversation, I felt that people talked about it in schools, in family gatherings. Back then, we didn’t have social media, instant messaging, but at that time, I remember we had difficulties getting our tickets, like everything was sold out. I remembered those moments, and I felt like we’re kind of repeating that history. And then I also remember once I was a little bit older than when I was seeing Petualangan Sherina, I think this also happened in Laskar Pelangi (2008).

So, to be able to create something as celebrated as this, the same way people celebrated Laskar Pelagi and Petualangan Sherina, I felt very proud. So if you want to mention it as a phenomenon, then be my guest, hahaha.

So about that, one tweet that has garnered attention was one that showed the huge, organic movement on JUMBO’s massive effect on people’s livelihood. For you, how do we make this sort of wave again?

If I knew the formula, I would have done this sooner! Hahaha.

I mean, when we first started this project, we never imagined that it would create such an, I would say, organic and powerful connection with people. But one thing that we’ve learned was that I think, at the heart of it all, it’s about creating something that genuinely speaks to people.

So, if you were to ask ‘how can we create such a wave again’ with whatever it is, a movie, an album, a theater show—anything, and if you aim to have a support as organic as what we received from JUMBO, I think the keyword is genuine. I think that should be a key ingredient in whatever you try to make. You need to genuinely speak to the people.

I think that’s the answer because, from the creators, the actors, the animators, and from the production, JUMBO is a shared experience. Like, when we wrote the script, we shared a lot of childhood experiences. And then, during the table reading or voice recording, we also shared personal experiences that brought us closer. I think that happened the same way even after the movie was released. JUMBO is a shared experience that brings us closer, regardless of age, background, and where we came from.

An example is the Purwokerto “study tour.” I also heard that they actually went to the legendary cinema, right? Rajawali Cinema, where they still hand paint the posters. So, yeah, I think to make this kind of wave again, I believe the key is to be genuine and authentic. I think we must keep trying to tell stories that matter, stories that are emotionally true, and probably grounded in our own experiences.

Because, if I may, usually creatives are so infatuated with the term outside the box, right? ‘If you want to be creative, keep searching for something outside the box,’ but like, you actually have something inside the box that you probably haven’t dug deep enough, you know?

I think that’s what we tried to do with JUMBO before, because animation is such a versatile medium, and it allows you to make a lot of things possible. Like, had I made the story Jumbo in outer space or deep in the ocean, I could have done that, ‘cause like, that’s outside the box, you know? I could have made this, like, a movie about some mythology or some legend, but that kind of forgets one thing—that we as humans have something inside of us that is closer to our lived experience.

So I think authenticity, and maybe look inwards instead of outwards/try to be “outside the box.” Because I feel like I believe that the magic will happen once people who came to watch can see themselves in the story, in the characters. Like you mentioned, when they feel seen, they feel heard, they feel understood, I think that’s the key.

Terima kasih teman-teman SD UMP Purwokerto yang sampai sewa 47 ANGKOT untuk nobar Film JUMBO 🤩🔥💛 Ini sih super duper fantastic!!! pic.twitter.com/jh9Y2aqcvk

— JUMBO DI BIOSKOP! ⭐️ (@jumbofilm_id) April 18, 2025

One part where JUMBO resonated deeply to me was how Don had to grapple early stages of life as a kid with heightened sensory. How did you capture these nuances so candidly in Don?

Wow, thank you for that question. From the very beginning, we believe that our main character, Don, carries a kind of sensitivity that many kids have, but probably don’t always know how to express his thoughts, his emotions, and maybe the way he processes the world around him. Or maybe in this specific condition, to put it lightly, he’s actually grieving because he lost his parents, right? And I think his thoughts and the way he processed that are actually reflections of many real children in the real world—even parts of my inner child.

We wanted everyone who saw this movie to feel what Don felt, to invite people into his perspective. We asked questions like ‘does Don understand the concept of grief?’ ‘Does Don understand that losing someone to death means that they will never return?’ And then ‘is the storybook the last piece of memory that he can hold on to?’

Those questions were asked, and we hoped that someone out there, like, out of the 5 million of people who bought the ticket, at least, know that probably one person, whether a child or an adult, can see themselves in Don and feel just a little bit more understood. Then, if that happens, I think we’ve done something meaningful because—I mentioned it a lot of times, even in the promotion posters and trailers—Jumbo was made for us, for our children, and the children inside of us.

When we met Prince Poetiray, Quinn Salman, Yusuf Özkan, and Muhammad Adhiyat during table reading and voice recording, I did not really put them in a strict direction like ‘memorizing’ lines that are written in the script and using it word-for-word. That wasn’t my approach at all. I explained to them because with children, you need to give simple directions, but you can get the essence of what you really want—that was my approach with the child actors in Jumbo. So those nuances, it wasn’t actually, in a way, artificially written. It’s not really by design.

Here’s the advantage—we did the voice recording first, and then we made the animation. I think that’s also one of the factors that really helped a lot because I didn’t want them to be overly fixated with a ‘finished picture.’ Like, if they completely knew that ‘Don moves like this,’ or ‘Mary is flying like this,’ then it might have given some restrictions on how they perceive the character, and how they perform their vocal acting. So, the furthest that I allow them to understand about the scene is, of course, the backstory of the characters and what happened in the scenes—both before, during, and after. So they’d know exactly the emotional state of the character when I asked them to record that specific scene. So then I’ll just say, like, I’m not gonna dictate you to the T for the dialogues—you understand Atta, you understand Norman, just try to act like them and whatever happens, I’ll record that. So there’s a lot of happy accidents that happen, and I think we really caught something magical in a lot of moments.

Like, if you remember in the movie, there’s one climax of the movie—I’m not going to spoil it—when Don finally captured the radio from the villain, and then he runs and then, like, the villain is chasing him. I know that the climax of the film will have a lot of running action, so Prince was actually running in place as he was recording his lines. There was one joke that happened naturally, and I decided to keep it.

If you remember, he was running, and he just, like, caught a break, and then he said ‘capek!’ That wasn’t in my direction! That wasn’t in the script. He literally just said that, and I thought that was brilliant and I decided to keep that. Then I told the animators that they need to give performance to this dialog, to this capek and turn it into a visual joke.

Even from the premiere night, one of the biggest laughs that we received in the theatre was when he took the radio, and then he asked: ‘Pak, pencet yang mana ini??’ That also came from Prince because he asked a genuine question to me as the director. He said, like, ‘okay so I grabbed the radio from the villain, but then how do I operate it? Do I press things? Turn the knobs?’ And then I said, ‘Oh, that’s true—I haven’t thought of that.’ 

Going for something lighter—some felt that there are references to pop films like Ghostbusters to Avengers in JUMBO. Are there any easter eggs that the viewers might’ve missed?

Haha—I love this question. It always makes me smile when people catch the little references or details we tucked into the film. Yes, JUMBO is packed with these subtle nods. Some moments have been picked up by eagle-eyed viewers, but there are also deeply personal and local easter eggs that might not be immediately noticeable.

For example:

– The license plate on Pak Kades’ car actually spells his name phonetically if you read it aloud.

– The name of Don’s village, Seruni, is a playful mix of ‘seru’ and ‘nih’—like, ‘Seru, nih!’—capturing the fun and vibrant energy we wanted to reflect in that setting.

– Don literally has no visible ear holes in his character design, which is a visual metaphor for why he struggles to be a good listener, and how he has to grow from that experience.

– And one of my favorites is Nurman. He’s actually inspired by Mahar from Laskar Pelangi, as a tribute to the late actor Verrys Yamarno. If you look closely, Nurman’s clothes feature a sun motif, symbolizing his role in the group: someone who brings light, warmth, and truth. His name itself, Nur, meaning ‘light,’ and Man, literally ‘a man of light’.

So yes, we really did pour a lot of love into the details, and it means the world when audiences notice them.

Talking about you, how do you see stand-up comedy nowadays? Do you think stand-up comedy actually has the same ability and power as films in making the world we live in a better place?

I think stand-up comedy today plays a very important role in society. It has a unique ability to make people laugh, but also to provoke thought and open conversations. It’s a form of expression that can break down walls and bring attention to serious issues, all while making us reflect with humor. In many ways, I see stand-up comedy and film as complementary. Both have the power to influence, inspire, spread happiness, and bring change, but in different ways.

Through animations, cultural sensibility is communicated—anime and them writing itself on the Japanese cityscape, to Upin & Ipin and how it portrayed multicultural harmony. I feel JUMBO’s worldbuilding did go that far as to capture life in Indonesia, in so many ways. What went into your decision-making process in making this painstaking detail a part of JUMBO?

We truly wanted the world of JUMBO to feel authentic and deeply rooted in the richness of Indonesia’s culture. The decision to infuse so many details from daily life in Indonesia wasn’t something we took lightly.

Hanya ada 1 cara untuk maju. Kita perlu ada dalam “liga” yang betul dengan mentaliti yang betul. Kita perlu bersaing secara sihat; saling berusaha untuk mencabar dan mengangkat kualiti masing-masing. Tahniah Jumbo kerana berjaya memintas Mechamato Movie! Majulah #AnimaSEA pic.twitter.com/0N04BW3vFO

— NizamABDRAZAK (@nizamabdrazak) April 17, 2025

From the architecture of Kampung Seruni to the wardrobe of the characters, everything was carefully considered to reflect the warmth, diversity, and vibrant spirit of our country. The nuances in culture, the way families interact, and even the setting of everyday life are all a part of what makes JUMBO feel like home for so many of us.

This was made possible by the amazing collaboration of over 420 talented local creators, each bringing their unique perspective and understanding of Indonesian culture. And that’s what we hope JUMBO becomes: a story that resonates with everyone, no matter where they’re from, but with a distinctly Indonesian soul.

Continuing on that topic, music is also part of the cultural sensibility—just like anime utilizing the traditional Japanese songwriting. Nowadays, it can be argued that Laleilmanino has shaped the formula of ‘modern Indonesian pop.’ Was this actually part of your design in broadcasting our current pop music? If not, then what’s the story in featuring Laleilmanino as the film composer?

Music plays such a powerful role in defining the cultural identity of a film. When it comes to JUMBO, we knew that the music had to resonate not only with the emotional journey of the characters but also with the audience. Laleilmanino was a natural choice for us because of their incredible ability to blend modern pop with rich, emotional depth, which perfectly matched the vibe we were looking for. While we didn’t set out to specifically broadcast the ‘modern Indonesian pop’ formula, we certainly wanted the music to reflect the heart of today’s Indonesian sound, something that felt fresh, contemporary, and yet timeless.

Their songs amplify the journey of Don, the warmth of family, and the adventure of self-discovery. By featuring Laleilmanino, we were able to showcase a piece of culture that is so current and relatable to the audiences today, while also offering a sense of familiarity and comfort.

One of the many happy stories coming after the release of JUMBO was the encouragement it gave for artists alike. We saw illustrators and animators posting their arts online to warm receptions, to OCs being a lot more confident showing up to the masses—even taking you by surprise. What should be the next step in bolstering this hopefulness?

It’s truly heartwarming to see how Jumbo has sparked such a wave of creativity and encouraged so many talented artists to share their work with the world. Seeing illustrators, animators, and other creatives gain confidence and recognition because of the film’s success is incredibly rewarding.

The next step, I believe, is to create more opportunities for local talent to collaborate, learn, and grow. If we can continue fostering an environment where creativity thrives, where local talent is celebrated, and where we support each other as a community, we will see even more remarkable things come from Indonesia’s creative scene.

You guys are TALENTED talented?!!? 😭 https://t.co/pINEQWBdHn

— FILM JUMBO SEDANG TAYANG DI BIOSKOP! (@Adriandhy) April 11, 2025

Said optimism, however, is happening side-by-side with the epidemic proliferation of Generative AIs. What is your take regarding the current state of artists?

I believe that tools will always evolve. But what remains irreplaceable is the human spirit behind the art. The soul and emotion of a story, the cultural nuance in a visual—those are things that come from lived experience, from our heart, and from imagination. That’s something AI can’t replicate. I think we shouldn’t be afraid of the technology. We can choose to see it not as a threat, but as a tool in ways that elevate our craft, not replace it. The heart of any creative industry is still the people behind it: their perspectives, voices, and stories. Because at the end of the day, audiences are drawn to what feels real, and realness comes from us.

Can we have your words for kids and teens who are aspiring to be an animator or storyteller?

To all the kids and teens out there who dream of becoming animators, storytellers, or filmmakers: you don’t have to wait to be ready to start. I always love drawing, telling stories, and watching my favorite movies over and over to figure out why they made me feel something. So if you feel that spark, follow it. Start with what you have. Sketch on paper, write a story in your notebook. It doesn’t have to be perfect; what matters is that it’s yours. And along the way, don’t be afraid to ask questions, to collaborate, to fail, and to grow. So keep dreaming, and remember: the story you’re working on might just be the one someone out there needs.