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fter gaining a successful singing career, Filipino heartthrob Christian Bautista aims at achieving glory in the movie business.

Back in 2005, it took a big effort to interview Christian, who rose to fame for his hit romantic single “The Way You Look At Me”.

I had to beat the rush-hour traffic in the capital, switching from car to ojek (motorcycle taxi) after a public relation staffer at Christian’s record label called me only 40 minutes before the interview at a Central Jakarta hotel.

Five years later, I had another chance for a one-on-one interview with him, and this time it was much easier. The only problem was I had to deal with his fans, and even other journalists, who had been lining up to take pictures with him.

Christian, occasionally, wiped the sweat that dripped from his forehead with the back of his hands, trying hard to fight the heat in the non-air conditioned auditorium of the Foundation for the Rehabilitation of Disabled Children (YPAC) in South Jakarta.

Even though the Filipino singer looked uncomfortable with the hot temperature, he always smiled and gave everyone a warm welcome.

This time around, Christian comes to Indonesia to shoot his upcoming film titled Simponi Luar Biasa, translated in English as Jayden’s Choir.

The film is directed by Awi Suryadi, recognized for his films such as I Know What You Did on Facebook and Pengantin Topeng (Masked Bride).

“It’s always a good opportunity, always a good feeling to be back here. And it’s different now because I’m doing a movie rather than singing. It’s a different experience,” Christian told The Jakarta Post.

In the film, Christian will play opposite a number of Indonesian actresses, including Ira Wibowo, Ira Maya Sopha and Sophie Navita as well as his fellow Filipino singer Maribeth, who gained fame for her single Denpasar Moon.

He will star as Jayden, of Filipino and Indonesian background, who struggles to pave his way to be top singer in the Philippines.

Back in his country, Christian has been in two movies, a romantic comedy and an indie. Jayden’s Choir is his first-ever Indonesian movie in which he plays the leading role. He will stay in Indonesia for less than two months while filming the movie.

“I’ve been singing for a long time, seven years. Now, I want to do more acting, I just want to do something different,” he said. “The difference is there’s no song. It’s like singing without music. It’s about being another person.”

He expressed his excitement in doing this project, saying that he’s motivated to be in the film in the hope that it would inspire other people to help children with special needs.

“It’s an inspirational movie... The people who watch will feel more love and concern for these special children. I do this more for the children than for myself, to show a movie that will help society.”

The biggest challenge is, he went on, to actually be that person and how you should assume a certain character.

There is a two-week workshop, which allows Christian to take a close look at how it is to be a teacher and for special children and how it is to be with them.

In a bid to delve deeply into his character as a teacher, he mirrors his younger brother, who is a teacher.

“I used to teach kids when I was young. So I think it’s easy for me to teach, but it’s special because I teach special children,” said Christian, who will speak in two languages, Filipino and Indonesian, in this movie.

Christian first caught the people’s attention through a ballad love song “The Way You Look at Me”, which topped charts in several Southeast Asian countries, including Indonesia.

The oldest of the three brothers who started singing at the age of seven in church choir, continued his creative pursuit in an a cappella group at high school, and a choir and musicals during his time at the University of the Philippines (UP) in Diliman.

The beginning of his career goes back to a reality singing contest, Star in a Million (SIAM), in which he placed 4th among 10 finalists.

He may not have triumphed in the competition, but he won a much bigger prize by signing a contract with Warner Music Philippines in 2004 and had the chance to sing “The Way You Look at Me”, written by noted American song writers Andrew Fromm and Keith Follese.