Sarah Lahbati gets more acting projects after TV5’s ‘Lumuhod Ka Sa Lupa’

MANILA, Philippines — Sarah Lahbati has officially returned to acting, portraying a lawyer fighting for justice in the brand-new TV5 action-drama “Lumuhod Ka Sa Lupa.” Since saying yes to this teleserye, she has accepted offers to star in a film and a series for an international streaming platform.

Now on its pilot week, her current series is a remake of the 1986 Rudy Fernandez action classic “Lumuhod Ka Sa Lupa,” wherein her character was originated by Jackielou Blanco.

The timing couldn’t have been more perfect.

“The timing of it landing on my lap (around October last year) felt incredibly right. It happened during a time where I felt like I had to make a comeback and pursue my goals. So the timing felt right. And then, of course, the material, the content, the role,” Sarah recently told The STAR in an exclusive interview at the TV5 Media Center in Mandaluyong City.

“When I read the synopsis and the character, I immediately said yes. And it felt to me that I’m going back to acting and I’m gonna be portraying a role of a woman with substance and not just going back to acting, whatsoever.”

Describing what her character named Mercy Balmores is like, Sarah said, “It’s really more on the drama side, the heavy drama, because my character is the daughter of a kingmaker, judge, politician, who she thinks is an incredible father. But then she’s fooled that he is completely something else.”

“She’s a charitable, smart, independent woman who has a big heart, wants to help communities and wants to do that through her foundation,” she elaborated on why she was drawn to her character.

“So, I fell in love with Mercy Balmores. I fell in love with her being a woman of substance and the complexity of her relationship with her father, and then meeting Norman de la Cruz and, you know, falling for his character, who comes from a completely different world.

“Aside from her being a woman of substance, being a woman with a big heart, I resonate with how compassionate she is, I guess, and how empathetic she is. And that aspect of wanting to help whenever she can is what I relate to.

“And the way she fights for justice is something that I, for sure, relate to but in different ways because she’s very vocal and I’m very private.”

It’s been quite some time since Sarah acted full-time. She had primarily focused on her family and now that she’s a single, working mom, it’s natural that she experienced jitters on her first day back at work.

“Of course, I had nerves like on the first taping day, but then it went away pretty quickly. I felt at home with what I was doing and the people I was surrounded with.”

As for the taping challenges, she would attribute them more to things beyond the production’s control.

“I think our debut week was so challenging. We were somewhere in Bulacan, in a forest slash river, out in the sun the whole day, filming, and we were filming just crazy scenes. Let’s say there was some kidnapping and you know, when you’re filming and you’re memorizing lines and everything is going smooth, but then suddenly it’s raining.

“So ang daming outer forces that disrupted the first taping, the pilot week. So it’s more of the external forces that we couldn’t control. But that’s expected already.”

Sarah wasn’t familiar with the original film but she said she was fortunate enough to receive some words of support from Jackielou, whom she worked with 10 years ago in the made-for-TV movie “More Than Words.”

“I got a message from Tita Jackielou. I worked with her, actually, for TV5 also. It’s called ‘More Than Words,’ and she facetimes me, video-calls me and congratulates me on the role and on the show,” she shared.

“And I asked her, ‘Tita Jackie, do you think I should watch it?’ She’s like, ‘No, absolutely not. Do not watch it. Do your own thing.’ It made my heart (swell) that she told me that and of course, I was giddy about it.

“But, yeah, I did not watch any of the old materials not just because Tita Jackielou mentioned it. But it does help that she enforced my idea that when you’re about to recreate something, for me, it should feel fresh and same but different. Like it should feel like a fresh new material.”

Sarah revealed that she had real-life inspiration for her portrayal.

“I would say (human rights lawyer) Amal Clooney. What an inspiration she is. Not someone who’s hard to reach in terms of her fashion choices for the show, but I guess how her brain works, her empathy and her knowledge on everything she does to help people, and law-related things as well,” she explained.

“So, I just thought about, like, who are incredible smart women that are changing the game in terms of law and charity work and stuff like that? I thought Amal Clooney is one of the women, actually. Even (the late Secretary of Environment) Gina Lopez. I thought about her also.”

Sarah started out as a child commercial model for various brands. Her acting debut was playing the daughter of Sen. Bong Revilla in the sitcom “Hokus Pokus.” She was 17 when she competed and then won the fifth season of the GMA reality show “StarStruck” in 2010.

Sharing her attitude towards acting nowadays, she said, “My mindset towards acting is that I am fully, fully embracing it right now. A lot more doors are opening for me ever since I accepted this show, because before it was always, ‘No, no, no, no. I’m sorry. No, no, no.’

“And now that I said yes to this one, sunod-sunod na and I’m still working on this. I’m not done with it yet. And I’ve accepted another TV series, but I can’t talk about it yet but it’s super special. And then one movie, it’s a supporting role. The TV series will be shot here, but internationally shown through an online streaming service.”

Since she’s also athletic, another genre she’d like to do in the future is action. “I love that also. I would love to do that. The first time I felt in my heart that I wanted to be an actress was when I was watching Angelina Jolie with my parents. Watching ‘Wanted,’ ‘Tomb Raider,’ ‘Salt,’ all her movies like we would watch as a kid gave me so much inspiration. And so, yeah, hopefully one day I get to do that.”

One thing is for sure Sarah sees acting as a personal space for creative expression and exploration. She said, “I am treating acting as my playground because for me, if I feel like I cannot be creative when I dissect a character and when I think about how I should do a scene, then there’s no point. Because how taping can be hard, so if I can’t be creative and I can’t play around with my role, then there’s no point. And with this (series), I get to do that together with the team.”

Meanwhile, another creative field that she’s immersing herself in is fashion.

“It’s also another side of myself that I’m fully embracing. It’s been so incredible working with different brands, doing all these amazing shoots. It’s such a good balance to the taping life,” she shared.

“(Acting and fashion are) just two different complete worlds where one thing they have in common is, again, creativity. And enjoying the process of doing that has everything that has to do with it.”

“So fashion, I also have goals I want to achieve. I’m hoping I can (do Fashion Week events).”

Co-produced by TV5, Studio Viva and Sari Sari, “Lumuhod Ka Sa Lupa” also stars Kiko Estrada, Joko Diaz, Sid Lucero, Mark Anthony Fernandez, among others. It airs weekdays after the noontime show, “E.A.T. Bulaga.”