Though just 25 years old, Indonesian star Bisma Karisma - actual name Bisma Rudiantoro - already has quite the intriguing resume. An accomplished breakdancer, Karisma rose to prominence on the televised Let's Dance competition before ultimately winning the Japanese edition of the show and launching a career as a musician both as a solo act and a member of pop group SM*SH. And having appeared in bit parts on television soaps earlier in his career Karisma is now making a concerted push into features, where he may very well be emerging as a legitimate young action star.
As fans of action cinema have long been aware dance skills are easily portable into screen fighting, with the degree of body control and the ability to learn and repeat choreography precisely common between the two disciplines. Zhang Ziyi is a prime example of this, having been a highly trained dancer before learning fight choreography the first time for Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and there are a good number of others. And Karisma is now making that exact same leap with upcoming Indonesian action-melodrama Juara.
Karisma here plays a young man standing up and becoming a hero, in what appears to be a pretty standard story heavy on the melodrama and very much pitched tonally towards his young, pre-existing fan base. But what makes it stand out is that this guy can really move. Karisma squares off against The Raid 2's double bladed assassin - Cecep Arif Rahman - in the film's teaser and while we don't get to see a ton of the choreography he more than holds his own against a vastly more seasoned fighter and sells his own skills convincingly.
The youthful tone of this one probably makes it unlikely to travel widely but we could be looking at an interesting new talent here. Take a look at the teaser below.