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New journeys of Rio & Atiqah
Courtesy of Rio and AtiqahThere have been plenty of firsts for celebrity couple Rio Dewanto and Atiqah Hasiholan in the past months
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Courtesy of Rio and Atiqah
There have been plenty of firsts for celebrity couple Rio Dewanto and Atiqah Hasiholan in the past months.
Rio is working on his first reality show about Indonesian coffee and Atiqah makes her sitcom debut in OK-JEK.
This year also marks their new collaboration in a movie project, Wonderful Life, in which Atiqah will be in front of the camera while her husband will be standing at the other end of the camera as the film producer.
Rio said the project brought him challenges as he has to arrange not only the contents but also manage film's financing. 'It's learning by doing. So far, I am enjoying it,' said the 28-year-old actor.
Wonderful Life, an adaptation of the book of the same title, presents the true story of a mother, Amalia, and her 12-year-old son Aqil, who struggles with dyslexia. In the film, which revolves around parenting, Atiqah will play the mother.
'It is about how parents let go of their egos to take a step into their child's world,' the 34-year-old Atiqah said. 'It reminds us that sometimes standards set by society and our personal egos make us forget about how wonderful our lives are.'
In the past, Rio and Atiqah had shared screens in cinematic films and made-for-TV movies. They also performed together in Titik Terang (Bright Light), a theatrical performance written and directed by Atiqah's mother, Ratna Sarumpaet.
In the 2012 drama, Hello Goodbye, they played Indonesians who meet and fall in love together in South Korea. Last year, they collaborated in Cinta Selamanya (Forever Love), in which they portrayed the love story of author Fira Basuki and her late husband Hafez Agung Baskoro.
Their collaborations happened by coincidence. Atiqah said at first the producers did not intend to pair her with Rio, such as in Hello Goodbye, for which another actor had been chosen for the leading role.
'But due to many reasons, in the end Rio played the role,' Atiqah said. 'A similar situation also happened on Cinta Selamanya, for which I was not the initial candidate for the leading role.'
For Cinta Selamanya, Rio and Atiqah traveled around Europe just to do multiple kissing scenes, but the filming hardly felt like a honeymoon since they went with a film crew.
Aside from preparing for her role in Wonderful Life, Atiqah spends most of her time filming the sitcom OK-JEK, in which she plays an ojek (motorcycle taxi) driver.
'OK-JEK brought me a lot of exciting challenges. It is my first sitcom and as an ojek driver, I have to wear a jacket and helmet and drive around the city in the sweltering sunlight,' she said.
The sitcom helped her to learn a new skill, as she previously could not drive a motorcycle and used a stuntman for any motorcycle-driving scenes.
'I learned to drive a motorcycle during the first day of filming OK-JEK. Thank God, I could do it right away, although my driving style may look a bit awkward in the first episodes.'
Meanwhile, Rio delves deeper into the world of coffee after playing a café owner in the critically acclaimed movie, Filosofi Kopi (Coffee Philosophy).
The film set has even been turned into a real café that serves Indonesian coffee beans only and Rio ' who owns the café in Melawai ' received the National Food Activist Award at the Indonesian Coffee, Tea and Chocolate Convention last year for his efforts in promoting the drink.
Rio extends his passion for Indonesian coffee by producing a reality TV show called Viva Barista, in which he, alongside barista Muhammad Aga and musician-and-coffee farmer Robi Navicula, embarks on a journey to numerous coffee farms, factories and cafés throughout the archipelago.
'We want to show the coffee industry in Indonesia and find ways to improve the livelihood of coffee farmers,' Rio said.
The couple, who have been married for two years, said they were not a lovey-dovey couple and did not have any special Valentine's Day plan.
'He doesn't give flowers and do typical romantic kinds of stuff, but the way he pays attention to me is somehow romantic,' Atiqah says.
They have yet to set specific goals in their careers this year, but they said they were certain they want to start a family soon.
'We certainly want to have a child, but let's see. Having a child is perhaps not a kind of new year's resolution. All we can do is try and let God decide.'
