Almost three years after winning the hearts of Thai moviegoers, the young stars of the feel-good flick "Fan Chan" ("My Girl") are about to work their magic on Indonesian audiences. And they are doing it in style with a soundtrack dubbed in Bahasa Indonesian, local songs replacing the Thai tunes of the '80s and a new title "Cinta Pertama", which translates as "First Love".

Dubbing a foreign film can be off-putting and many movie fans prefer watching foreign fare in the original version and reading the subtitles. But that didn't stop Fiesta Films, which has distributed some of the more popular Thai films like "Shutter," "The Eye" and "Satree Lex ("Iron Ladies")" from making Indonesia's first film adaptation with "My Girl".

"The film has a lot of similarities with Indonesian culture and we believe the simple moral of the story will touch the audience. That's why we decided to take the project onboard," says Devi Luciana of Fiesta Films. "Not all films can be adapted to fit Indonesian audiences."

When Fiesta Films bought the rights to the film, its sister company Musica Group, which has an extensive library of Indonesian music, offered to collaborate by coming up with an Indonesian soundtrack. The next step was finding a director to handle the adaptation. Rizal Mantovani proved the perfect match.

"We've known Rizal for a while through his work on music videos with Musica Group. When we offered him the project, the first thing he did was watch the film. He took the job because he was inspired by the movie," Devi told the Jakarta Post.

"He's passionate about films, very frank and full of suggestions as to how we could improve on the adaptation.

Yongyooth Thongkongtoon of GTH Production says the studio was happy to give the distributor permission for the adaptation.

It's not the first time a Thai movie has been modified to suit the countries in which it is being shown. "Satree Lex" was not just dubbed in Mandarin and Cantonese for its Taiwan screenings but the characters were given Chinese names as well.

"One character was given the same name as a member of parliament who was in the Taiwanese news at the time. In 'Satree Lex 2', they adapted the protest scene to match the protests that were taking place in Taiwan," says Yongyooth.

Komkrit Treevimol, one of the blockbuster's six directors has seen the adaptation and says the Indonesian version is just as much fun although he doesn't understand the dialogue as there are no subtitles.

"But I don't have any problems with it because to me, the pictures say it all no matter how much they change the songs and the title," he says.

Another "Fan Chan" director, Vijja Kojew, is impressed by the attention to detail and says he thinks the main changes have been made to the songs and the characters' names. "The Indonesian version has kept some of the original melodies and just inserted new lyrics. They've added new songs as well.

"It's good for the movie and will help it appeal to the local audience. They known the local market better than we do," he notes.

But as the Indonesian distributors have sent the new version to the GTH without subtitles, Vijja admits he has no idea how much, if any, of the story has been changed.

Rizal, whose repertoire includes the acclaimed "Kuldesak" - which he co-directed with three peers - and the horror blockbuster "Jelangkung" has a reputation for highly enjoyable entertainment.

The Indonesian script uses colloquial language that makes the film feel real. The film opens with Jeamy (Jiab in the Thai version, played by Chawin Chitsomboon as a young adult and Charlie Trirat as a child) as he receives a wedding invitation from his childhood friend, Nina (Thailand's Noyna played by Focus Jeerakul). Then the story flashes back to the good times they shared during their childhood years. The boys versus the girls, the bullies, their blossoming love and Jiab's break from Noyna as he decides to join the boys are all key childhood moments featured in the movie.

Rizal confesses to having fallen in love with the story. "I am amazed how the structure of the film could be so simple, the characters so natural and how the directors managed to capture every detail to enhance that simplicity in this wonderful piece. Brilliant."

But he admits that bringing such an intimate portrait of childhood to Indonesian audiences was not easy.

"The translation was tricky in some parts," he says. "I think the trick here is to have the audience immerse themselves in the world of these grade-schoolers. Indonesian children have their own 'lingo'. So I tended not have the kids talk like grown-ups. They should speak their language and act their age."

The film's dubbing was handed to Ferry Fadli, considered the master in the Indonesian dubbing industry. He did whatever was necessary to make the film true to the original - even to the point of using a female vocal actor for the role of Jack.

It took about 10 months to produce the adaptation, starting with the translation, casting the right vocal actors for each character, dubbing, mixing and finally finding the right nostalgic songs to replace the original Thai soundtrack.

The use of local songs from the opening scene to the credits is one of the highlights of the adaptation. From 1975's "Jatuh Cinta" by Emilia Contesa and Chrisye's "Hip Hip Hura Hura", through to "Ku Menanti" by Iwan Fals, the songs pay homage to Indonesian pop of the 1980s and 1990s.

The selection team, which included Rizal and several Musica people, chose the songs based on the mood of the scenes rather than the lyrics. Rizal then matched song to scene, timing them exactly. Sometimes the songs had to be altered to fit the scene, creating a longer intro or even a new number to achieve the right mood.

But can a good thing come around twice? Says Fiesta's Devi: "This is the first time for us and we want to see the market's reaction. So far, we haven't found a script that's 'perfect' enough for an adaptation like this."

When asked if he'll make another adaptation, Rizal hints there may not be a second time: "It's a once in a lifetime project. I really love the movie and want to share that experience with everybody."

Parinyaporn Pajee

The Nation