KIND & NAIVE: Tania Hudson portrays Mayang Mengurai

TANIA Hudson exudes the same elegance of her already-popular sister Natasha Hudson.

However, as demonstrated in a few telefilms and now, a TV serial, she shares another similarity with her sister — a talent for acting.

Tania already has three telefilms under her belt — Nadira, Antara Denai and Lagu Kita. Currently, she plays the lead role in Mayang Mengurai, TV3's latest serial drama under the Lagenda slot.

This looks like we'll be see ing much more of Tania. "I'm still new in this industry, so I just feel lucky that the producer, Datuk Jaspal and Vareen Kaur of Orangetree Communications trusted me to play the lead character, Mayang Mengurai, even with my lack of experience," said the lanky beauty over the phone.

"I'm also lucky to be surrounded by so many talented people who shared their wisdom and experience with me. Plus, Yeop 'Hitler' Zami is a very good director.

"I really hope Mayang Mengurai would be my big break in the industry." The series is based on Rapunzel, a fairy tale story about a girl with sweepingly long hair who's locked up in a tall tower by an evil witch.

She is saved by a prince who climbs the tower using her long locks as a rope. If you know the tale and watched the show, you'd notice how similar — and yet different — Mayang Mengurai is.

"It's a beautiful tale, based on Rapunzel but with a bigger storyline," said Tania.

In Mayang Mengurai, the witch in the story is called Kornilam, whose aim in life is to be beautiful, powerful and rich. With the aid of a great wizard Mohijad, Kornilam gets her wish, but to maintain her beauty and youth, she must adopt three baby girls.

With a little trickery, magic and abductions, she gets the three girls. Mayang Indera (Anne Ngasri) who has powerful, hypnotic eyes, Mayang Merdu (Zarina AF) who is blessed with a mesmerising voice while Mayang Mengurai has her beautiful long hair.

"While Kornilam uses Mayang Indera and Mayang Merdu to get her wealth, my character Mayang Mengurai however, was left in the tower and was destined to never see the world."

That is, until two men get lost in the jungle and accidentally find the tower where the four ladies live. "My character is very kind and naive.

She is the one who is mostly abused in the story. But in the end, she is the only one who can kill Kornilam. It is revealed by Mohijad that Mayang Mengurai's hair is the source of Kornilam's powers, so she could never cut it. "Another way to kill Kornilam is for Mayang Mengurai to wed. These two things are the reasons why she is kept in the tower away from the world.

"It's a pretty challenging role to play, but what's most challenging for me is the hair. It's very heavy and once I put the wig on, I can never take it off until the shoot is over. I have to carry it everywhere I go. Sometimes, it gives me a headache."

The hair takes the crew almost 10 minutes to fix. "Fortunately, my problem is only the hair. My makeup is very natural and most of the wardrobe is recycled anyway. The one who has to wear the most makeup is actually Mayang Indera, since her eyes must be beautiful and captivating."

Tania added that she is having fun but acting is far from the glitz and glamour; it's actually hard work. "We've had to do some travelling.

For Mayang Mengurai, we shot at Kellie's Castle, Batu Gajah, Perak for most of the tower scenes while other scenes were filmed in Ulu Langat and Shah Alam.

"Sometimes we have to do many scene re-takes until everybody is satisfied with the end result. Some of the scenes take longer to do because of the CGI effects. This process can go on and on. We can start shooting from as early as 6am to as late as 10am the next day! We have to chase deadlines. It is tiring and challenging, but when you see the final product, it was all worth it."

So what's next for Tania? "I'm not sure. I'm giving my full commitment to Mayang Mengurai and I can only hope to get more offers.

"I hope the next role will be something even more challenging. I've been playing a sweet, naive girl so I don't want to be typecast. As an actor, I must be able to play any character. I hope to get a tough chick role. I think I can play the villain too," laughed Tania.

Mayang Mengurai starts airing today at 4.30pm and runs from Mondays to Thursdays.

Besides Tania, the cast also includes Lana Nordin, Kamal Adli, Ammar, Sabrina Ali, Shasha Elite and Ako Mustapha.