"What's Stew-ing?" with Abid Hussain

About "What's Stew-ing?" with Abid Hussain

"What's Stew-ing?" is an english language, weekly, Malaysian content industry podcast, where Abid Hussain, Founder/CEO of Creative Stew asks the Malaysian content industry captains questions about their line of work in the entertainment industry and how they can help grow the Malaysian content industry for the better.

Publisher

Creative Stew

Category

arts

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

13 Dec 2023

Latest episode

29 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

47 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   29 Oct 2026

   Hasan Mutallib: Seven Decades of Malaysian Cinema | What's Stewing S3-Ep7

   Hasan Abdul Muttalib has spent six decades in Malaysian cinema as an animator, filmmaker, educator and critic. At 80, he sits down with us for a long and honest conversation about where the industry went wrong and what it would take to fix it.We talk about the difference between making a film and making a movie, what film grammar and film language really mean, and why he believes most local directors never learned the second one. We go through the history and politics of FINAS, the state of funding, festival juries, Wajib Tayang, film archives, RTM, streaming, and the 80th anniversary of the Malayan Film Unit and Filem Negara that passed without a celebration.He also talks about the films and filmmakers he admires, and what a story needs before it deserves an international audience.The views in this episode belong to our guest.CHAPTERS0:00 A film or a movie? The question nobody answers3:17 Is Malaysian cinema better now than in the 1950s and 60s?10:23 Classical Malay literature and point of view in storytelling14:22 The lost guru and student tradition17:15 Film grammar versus film language25:15 Who is to blame when most directors do not know film language?30:25 How FINAS began and where it went wrong38:33 What a real national cinema institution looks like47:49 What would an Oscar-worthy Malaysian film look like?58:34 Are we still making artificial cinema?1:05:44 Why Malaysia never built a film criticism culture1:11:51 Brilliant films, but no film culture1:19:11 Streaming, social media followers and casting1:25:36 The youngest generation of filmmakers1:28:04 Self-taught versus formal film education1:34:42 30 minutes with every decision maker1:36:57 Who should sit on a festival jury1:44:50 Wajib Tayang and TV drama1:48:53 Film archives and preserving our history1:51:37 RTM and film appreciation2:01:10 The funding system and the second approval panel2:03:45 Should proven directors have to pitch?2:09:00 80 years of the Malayan Film Unit and Filem Negara2:15:25 Closing thoughtsLISTEN TO WHAT'S STEWINGSpotify: http://tinyurl.com/3xctk9zcApple Podcasts: http://tinyurl.com/5n6tcc9vSUBSCRIBEyoutube.com/@creativestewCONNECT WITH CREATIVE STEWWebsite: https://www.creativestew.tvInstagram: instagram.com/creativestewtvTikTok: tiktok.com/@creativestewFacebook: facebook.com/creativestewLinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/creative-stewX (Twitter): x.com/creativestewtvEmail: info@creativestew.tv#WhatsStewing #CreativeStew #MalaysianCinema #HasanMutallib #Filmmaking #Podcast #CreatedbyCreativeStewLISTEN TO WHAT'S STEWINGSpotify: http://tinyurl.com/3xctk9zcApple Podcasts: http://tinyurl.com/5n6tcc9v SUBSCRIBEhttps://www.youtube.com/@CreativeStew/?sub_confirmation=1 CONNECT WITH CREATIVE STEWWebsite: https://www.creativestew.tvInstagram: instagram.com/creativestewtvTikTok: tiktok.com/@creativestewFacebook: facebook.com/creativestewLinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/creative-stewX (Twitter): x.com/creativestewtvEmail: info@creativestew.tv #WhatsStewing #CreativeStew #ShamylOthman #Khadam #Rahsia #MalaysianHorror #MalaysianCinema #Filmmaking #Podcast #CreatedbyCreativeStew

2. 

   15 Oct 2026

   Shamyl Othman: What Nobody Tells You About Making It In The Industry | What's Stewing S3-Ep6

   Shamyl Othman left Malaysia at 19 to study film in Melbourne, came home to an industry full of problems nobody warned him about, and still chose to make horror. His student short film Father won the Gold Award at the Malaysian Video Awards and screened at the Melbourne International Film Festival and the Bangkok International Film Festival. Years later he took on a harder assignment. His father, Othman Hafsham, spent his career making Malaysians laugh and made exactly one horror film, Rahsia, in 1987. It won Best Director and Best Picture at the Malaysian Film Festival. In 2023, Shamyl directed the reboot. His latest film, Khadam, is set in 1950s Malaya and built around the saka, a spirit that passes from one generation to the next whether the family wants it or not. It has no flying ghosts and very little dialogue. Its lead, Indonesian actress Aghniny Haque, does not speak at all. It has earned around RM4 million at the box office and shown that a slow, patient horror film can find a Malaysian audience. In this episode he sits down with Abid Hussain to talk about why he left and what he found when he came back, how you compromise in this industry without losing your integrity, why suspense became his craft, what it felt like to remake the one horror film his father ever made, why Khadam had to be set in the 1950s, building dread without jump scares, casting an Indonesian lead, what RM4 million says about local audiences, how a horror film works inside the limits of religion, what it would take for a Malaysian horror film to break through internationally, and what Malaysian society still needs to see. Recorded at the Creative Stew office in Kuala Lumpur. "I feel like film is an emotional experience first before it becomes anything intellectual." CHAPTERS00:00 Hook and introduction02:48 Leaving Malaysia at 19 to study in Melbourne06:18 Coming home to the Malaysian film industry10:52 Why horror, and a knack for suspense15:42 Father, the student short film that won awards19:39 Rahsia and remaking his father's only horror film24:23 Why Khadam had to be set in the 1950s28:49 Building dread without jump scares32:02 Casting an Indonesian lead36:18 RM4 million and what audiences want from horror41:54 Horror, religion and the limits of what you can show46:10 What a Malaysian horror film needs to go global49:36 What Malaysian society still needs to see53:42 Closing thoughts LISTEN TO WHAT'S STEWINGSpotify: http://tinyurl.com/3xctk9zcApple Podcasts: http://tinyurl.com/5n6tcc9v SUBSCRIBEhttps://www.youtube.com/@CreativeStew/?sub_confirmation=1 CONNECT WITH CREATIVE STEWWebsite: https://www.creativestew.tvInstagram: instagram.com/creativestewtvTikTok: tiktok.com/@creativestewFacebook: facebook.com/creativestewLinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/creative-stewX (Twitter): x.com/creativestewtvEmail: info@creativestew.tv #WhatsStewing #CreativeStew #ShamylOthman #Khadam #Rahsia #MalaysianHorror #MalaysianCinema #Filmmaking #Podcast #CreatedbyCreativeStew

3. 

   1 Oct 2026

   Susan Lankester: Forty Years In Front Of The Camera | What's Stewing S3-Ep5

   In 1983, a 21-year-old delivered a single line in a Malaysian film called Mekanik. "White people, black people, brown people, blue people, aren't we all Malaysians?" Four decades later that line is still quoted in advertisements, in social commentary, and in arguments about what this country is and what it still refuses to become.The actress who said it is Susan Lankester. She is 64. Chinese-English by heritage, fluent across Malay, Cantonese and English, she built a career that most people said was impossible for someone who looked like her, working through Malay, Chinese and English-language productions when the industry wanted everyone to fit inside a single race or a single language box.Her biggest recognition came 41 years after she started. Best Actress at the 33rd Malaysia Film Festival, and Best Actress at the Asian Academy Creative Awards, both for Rain Town, at 62 years old. Not at the beginning, not at the peak, but now.In this episode she sits down with Abid Hussain to talk about that first film with Othman Hafsham, the line that would not die, learning street Malay on set, why comedy is the hardest craft of all, four-camera live sitcoms shot in front of a thousand students at UKM Bangi, the theatre that broke her open (Natrah at Istana Budaya, and 4.48 Psychosis), founding her own production company and the fight to fund stories about people instead of jump scares, casting influencers over trained actors, women's ageing being treated as a deficit while men's is called distinguished, and what forty years of surviving this industry actually taught her about acting, identity and staying in the room. Recorded at the Creative Stew office in Kuala Lumpur."Telling stories is the most precious thing we can do. It's better than therapy."CHAPTERS00:00 "If filmmaking doesn't support you, it can hurt you"01:31 Introduction: the line Malaysia still quotes02:47 Welcome, and back to 1983 on the set of Mekanik07:38 "Aren't we all Malaysians?" the line that went viral09:05 Do we still honour that quote?11:21 Chinese-English heritage and working across languages14:46 When your body is the instrument16:58 The cost: disrespect, advances, and knowing when to walk away18:03 Why comedy is the hardest craft19:22 Othman Hafsham, four cameras, and live sitcom at UKM Bangi22:48 Natrah, and what theatre demands of an actor26:46 4.48 Psychosis and the roles that stay with you30:16 Building a production company, and funding original stories34:05 Casting influencers over trained actors37:40 Women's ageing as a deficit, men's as distinguished41:53 What a lifetime brings to a performance44:16 Rain Town, and Tunku Mona Riza's eleventh-hour call48:53 Best Actress at 62, forty-one years in52:42 The hardest decade to survive58:27 On the receiving end of every decision1:00:34 The honest advice for a young actress1:05:42 The role she's proudest of, and the one still to come1:08:06 Closing thoughtsLISTEN TO WHAT'S STEWINGSpotify: http://tinyurl.com/3xctk9zcApple Podcasts: http://tinyurl.com/5n6tcc9vSUBSCRIBEhttps://www.youtube.com/@CreativeStew/?sub_confirmation=1CONNECT WITH CREATIVE STEWWebsite: https://www.creativestew.tvInstagram: instagram.com/creativestewtvTikTok: tiktok.com/@creativestewFacebook: facebook.com/creativestewLinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/creative-stewX (Twitter): x.com/creativestewtvEmail: info@creativestew.tv#WhatsStewing #CreativeStew #SusanLankester #MalaysianCinema #Mekanik #RainTown #MalaysianFilm #Acting #Theatre #Podcast #CreatedbyCreativeStew

Who has been a guest on "What's Stew-ing?" with Abid Hussain

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Angga Dwimas Sasongko
• Adflin Shauki
• Anurag Kashyap
• Hafiz Rashid
• three lead actors of Memori

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

89,798

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Spotify

5.0 / 5

2 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 51 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

45

Social presence

0

YouTube

85

Engagement

60

Contact "What's Stew-ing?" with Abid Hussain

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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