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‘Milea: Suara dari Dilan’: Teen romance from a boy’s perspective
Milea: Suara dari Dilan (Milea: Voice of Dilan) recounts the same teenage love story as written by Pidi Baiq in his two-part Dilan novels. But this time around, Pidi writes from the perspective of the male protagonist.
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- (Instagram/@pidibaiq)
B
andung-based musician and author Pidi Baiq soared into the limelight in 2015, thanks to his two best-selling Dilan novels that center on the love story of teenagers Dilan and Milea in the 1990s.
The two novels – which recount the events from Milea’s perspective – have been adapted onto the silver screen. Just like the novels, the movie adaptations became huge successes, with Dilan 1990 and Dilan 1991 topping Indonesia’s box office in 2018 and 2019, respectively.
Seemingly riding on Dilan’s popularity, Pidi launched Milea, Suara dari Dilan (Milea: Voice of Dilan) earlier this year. It follows the same timeline of the previous novels but tells it from the perspective of Dilan – a rebellious high school boy who often gets into arguments with Milea over his involvement with a motorcycle gangster.
Set in Bandung in West Java in the early 1990s, the novel follows Dilan and Milea from their meeting and their tumultuous relationship to their eventual breakup.
Pidi cleverly provides different points of excitement in every chapter of the book – from cheesy romantic moments to suspenseful street fights. More importantly, Pidi reveals the true feelings of Dilan – who often puzzles Milea with his seemingly unpredictable actions.
In the early chapters, Dilan recounts his first impression of Milea. “If I may argue, I don't think it’s simply a matter of her appearance, more than that [I am] attracted by her pleasant personality,” the boy says.
