Compass: July 24

Tomorrow night on Compass Tasmanian filmmaker Varsha Sidwell (The Abbey, The Mission) follows Princess Asri (Jane Gillespie an Aussie pre-school teacher from Sydney) as she prepares the wedding of her son Prince Tjok Gus to adored Indonesian soapie star Happy Salma.

Princess Asri also reminises about her own her royal wedding in 1978 when she married Prince Tjokorda Raka and became a Balinese princess.

East meets west in a Hindu ceremony…

For most mothers, organising a lavish wedding is stressful enough, but what if you are also an Australian-born Balinese Royal Princess expected to supervise complex Hindu traditions stretching back centuries?

Compass follows Princess Jero Asri Kerthyasa (formerly Jane Gillespie from Sydney) for the Royal Wedding preparations for her son, twenty-nine year old Prince Tjok Gus.

The bride-to-be is Happy Salma, adored Indonesian TV ‘soapie’ star. The traditional wedding ritualsshe’s taking part in at the Royal Palace of Ubud are a whole new worldfor Happy.

Supervising proceedings at the palace is the head of the Royal House of Kerthyasa, Asri’s husband, Prince Tjokorda Raka. As the youngest son of his father’s tenth wife, the Prince was expected to marry within the Balinese Royal Family. Prince Tjokorda Raka refused to bow to family pressure and in 1978 made an Australian commoner, Jane Gillespie, a Balinese Princess. It’s now thirty-two years on and while Ubud is still the cultural heart of Bali, it’s no longer a sleepy rural village. As hundreds of villagers donate their labour and prepare traditional offerings, the wedding promises to be a lavish event.

As the Royal Family prepare for the Big Day it becomes clear that for this Balinese Royal House ‘balancing cultures’ is a fine art. The groom, like his royal brother and sister, grew up largely in the northern suburbs of Sydney, and he’s as comfortable in the Palace as ‘Prince Tjok Gus’, as he is being just ‘Max’ with his mates down south on Bali’s surf coast.

After Balinese mystics are called into prevent rainstorms, the wedding day dawns. The Royal Family assemble in their ceremonial regalia, while Princess Asri takes her new daughter-in-law under her wing. Before thousands of guests, in two elaborate ceremonies lasting from dawn to dusk, a Javanese actress weds her Indo-Aussie Prince and becomes a Balinese Princess. Set against the backdrop of Bali’s high society, Compass: Bali High Wedding is a heady mix of love and fairytales across cultural divides.

It airs Sunday, July 24 at 10pm on ABC1.