Film director Hanung Bramantyo nicely portrays this phenomena, capturing the trend and how it has become a huge market in the nation'€™s fashion industry in his first movie this year, Hijab.

Hijab was made after Hanung'€™s wife, Zaskia Adya Mecca '€” who also starred in and produced the film '€” had an idea to put that trend onto the big screen.

The 100-minute drama revolves around a group of four women who run a Muslim wear business. The film begins with Bia (Carissa Putri), Tata (Tika Bravani) and Sari (Zaskia Adya Mecca) sharing their experience in wearing hijab.

Bia wears a hijab after being known in social media as the girl who gets guidance after taking part in an Islamic seminar, Tata wears it to cover her baldness, and Sari, who already wears a hijab, starts to wear a dupatta (a long scarf loosely draped across the head and shoulders), after she marries the Arab-descent Gamal (Mike Lucock).

Anin (Natasha Rizky) is the only girl among the three who do not wear a hijab and does not want to get married although she already has a boyfriend (played by Dion Wiyoko).

Bia marries a celebrity, Matnur (Nino Fernandez) while Tata'€™s husband is a famous photographer, Ujul (Ananda Omesh).

The three are actually the type of independent women who do not mind working hard to support their own lives. But after they get married, their husbands ask them to just stay at home and take care of the house and the kids.

They are very close as a group that they organize an arisan social gathering once a month where each couple put into a pool an equal amount of money.

During an arisan, Gamal says that the activity is more like a husbands'€™ gathering, as the men pay.

Annoyed with what he says, Tata then suggests that the girls to do something, which is immediately welcomed by Sari, who thinks of doing an online hijab business together.

In the business, Bia becomes the designer, as she likes to make her own clothes; Tata and Anin handle marketing while Sari deals with the finances.

However, as their husbands oppose the idea of working wives, they do not tell them that they have a joint venture.

But slowly, in line with the significant growth of the business, the women become busier than before and the men sniff out something different with their wives.

They plan to open a boutique and promise to tell the husbands about the truth. But until the boutique is open, they do not have the courage to do so.

The plot gets more complicated when the men lose their jobs, except Gamal.

Gamal, however, leaves after he finds out that Sari works without his consent, while the other husbands refuse to accept the fact that their wives are now the breadwinners.

Hanung said that Hijab, which hits theater on Jan. 15, was not a '€œreligious'€ movie despite some religious messages in it. The film is more entertaining, with many comedic scenes, although the jokes are sometimes too much.

The chemistry of the cast as a group is great and the audience can feel the real closeness among them. Wrapped in a simple but engaging storyline and pleasing visual images, Hijab is more than just a regular chick flick and should not be missed.

Popular

Volcano erupts in North Sulawesi, hundreds evacuated

Dubai roads, airport reel from floods after record rains

Ramadan boosts consumer confidence, retail sales