RECENTLY, we asked two protegees of the late Lino Brocka how it felt like to be taken under the great director's wing. What we discovered was a man who never planned to be the master filmmaker that he became, but just a man whose big heart touched the core of everything and everyone who came into his life.

Snooky Serna was three years old when she first met Brocka. Accompanied by her mother, Mila Ocampo, to audition for the youngest child's role in Brocka's first movie ''Wanted: Perfect Mother,'' she faced Brocka and Lea producers Aling Miling Blas and Aling Toreng all by her lonesome inside the LVN compound.

Snooky recalls that Brocka asked her just one question.

''Tito Lino asked me why I wanted to be an actor,'' recalls Snooky. ''And I answered, 'Because I want to act and act and act!''

She surmises that Brocka and the producers must have found the answer cute coming from a three-year-old girl, because a week later she was informed that she had gotten the part.

She muses that it must have been her lucky day as dozens of other children were auditioning for the plum role. To this day, Snooky believes she didn't do anything special, but that one, important question from Brocka clinched the role for her.

Bembol's first meeting with Brocka was just as uneventful. It was 1974 and he was then a 21-year-old working as officer-in-charge at the DARE Foundation, a rehabilitation center for drug dependents.

''Lino and his group went to DARE to ask for a permit to film in one of our rehabilitation centers. Ako yung officer-in-charge na sumalubong at nag-entertain sa kanila,'' he recalls.

A week later, Brocka and his group returned to check on their permit. It was at this time that Brocka broached the idea of Bembol's playing a bit role in his movie.

''Nung nakuha na nila yung permit, kinausap ako ni Lino and he asked me if I wanted to be part of his movie since it was about drug rehabilitation and I was once a resident of the center,'' he says.

It was the prospect of getting paid P200 a day for five shooting days that got Bembol interested in Lino's offer, clueless about the big acting break he was about to get.

Finally agreeing to the minor role, he was immediately cast in the movie ''Tatlo, Dalawa, Isa.''

If both Snooky and Bembol found their acting breaks a breeze, the task of molding them into good performers was a different ballgame altogether.

''He didn't make acting easy,'' says Snooky of her mentor. ''Isa sa pinakamahirap na katrabahong direktor si Tito Lino. He makes the process complicated for you because he wants you to appreciate the craft. Ang sabi niya kasi, once equipped ka na, may mga techniques ka na, acting will come easy to you dahil ingrained na sa iyo 'yon.''

She reveals that even at her tender age of three, Brocka would use ''brute force'' to motivate her for her roles.

''Sinasabunutan niya ako. Yung talagang masakit, ha?'' Snooky says with a smile and adds, ''but he took pains to explain to me why he did it.''

Often, after pulling her hair, Brocka would say to her: ''Cooks, sinasabunutan kita because I want you to be really angry. Now that you're angry, you use that anger to act out the scene.''

Then the director would give more instructions. ''He would tell me, 'keep that feeling, stay angry, don't cry yet, just remember the feeling, remember the feeling,''' she recounts.

The actress recalls that even when she was a toddler there was a lot of homework to be done everytime Brocka was directing. A now appreciative Snooky says, ''That was the best thing about Tito Lino: he would go to any extreme if he had to bring out a certain emotion he wants from you--and most of all, he has the patience for it.''

Bembol agrees and relates his own experience with the acclaimed director:

''He always required you to concentrate. Hihilahin ka sa isang kanto and then he'd start to talk, to motivate you, kung ano ang pinanggalingan, kung bakit dapat ganito kasakit, kung bakit dapat kang umiyak at kung bakit dapat sa kanang mata lang papatak ang luha. Detalyeng-detalye, and then he would give you time,'' he recalls. ''He would say, 'Tell me when you're ready.'''

The director would often say to him, ''You've got to make me feel, otherwise it's no good to me.''

Snooky volunteers that everytime Brocka ''manhandled'' her, she knew that it wasn't done out of caprice. ''It was just meant to shock me a little into concentrating,'' the actress notes.

Bembol had his expressive eyes going for him. ''In fact, Lino told me that, when he first saw me in the rehabilitation center, he was struck by my eyes, how they were communicating how tormented I was at such a young age and how I had experienced so much pain in a short period of time,'' says the actor, who got hooked on drugs at 14.

He observes, ''I have been around and I know that's where I get my depth.''

Brocka was aware of this depth and often asked the actor to ''use your eyes and find the light.''

Bembol explains that ''finding the light'' is when the camera lights intensely focus on the actor's eyes, which then sharpens the emotions an actor is conveying. It is a technique he has mastered both on stage and film.

But both performers admit to some acting quirks that didn't sit well with the director. Snooky had a penchant for unconsciously raising her eyebrows and wrinkling her nose. And Bembol tended to eat his words when delivering his lines and initially had difficulty in speaking Tagalog.

''Lino didn't like facial contortions. He didn't like his actors to be grimace-y,'' explains Bembol.

The actor also clarifies an observation that Brocka's stable of actors had it easy because the director acted out scenes for them.

''There's a misconception there,'' says Bembol, ''because he did not require his actors to imitate him. He merely showed you how to act out the scene, but you had to have your own interpretation.''

''Ang gusto lang niya, makita mo kung anong level ka niya gustong magsimula, tapos mag-improvise ka na,'' says Snooky. She vehemently adds, ''He didn't give it to you on a silver platter, no way!''

Underacting is another Brocka technique both Snooky and Bembol have learned. ''Ayaw niya ng overacting. Maaga pa lang, natutunan ko nang mag-underact even before I could spell the word,'' chuckles Snooky. ''Gusto niya, habang umaarte ka, kino-control mo na huwag kang sumobra.''

''Kesa sa maging magaslaw ka, just stand still and make your presence felt without saying a word. In a crowd scene, for instance, habang nagpapatayan yung mga ka-eksena ko, I would rather hold still, kaya ramdam na ramdam kong nag-a-underact ako. Mas angat, e,'' explains Bembol.

''Gusto niya ng galit pero gusto niya nasa loob. Actually, pinahihirapan kami ni Tito Lino kasi mahirap timplahin yun,'' laughs Snooky.

In spite of their ''hardships'' Snooky says that Brocka was a good storyteller because he could weave a good tale even if the characters were sometimes mediocre, and he listened to his actors and took the cue from them.

''Lino gave importance to every aspect of filmmaking, that's why his movies worked. Hindi dahil extra o passerby lang, ganun-ganon na lang, no?'' adds Bembol.

But Brocka's magic went beyond his skillful filmmaking, as his two protegees confirm. ''May puso talaga si Lino,'' says Bembol. ''He had the heart and the eyes for filmmaking.''

Snooky says, ''You can't be a good actor or director if you don't have a heart. Tito Lino felt so much and that was what made him who he was. His big heart came out in his movies.''

For Bembol, being tagged as ''lucky'' to have worked under Brocka is an understatement. ''Lucky is too small a word. I am extra fortunate to have worked with a genius like Lino. One and only talaga siya.''