W

hile Betawi people are the original residents of Jakarta, the capital has always played host to many ethnic groups and nationalities, making it a fertile ground for artistic exploration in films, literature and, most recently, TV.

Jakarta’s melting pot was the sometime inspiration for the comedy trio Warkop DKI, a hugely popular act in the late 1970s and 1980s. Common cultural-related scenes in Warkop DKI films include the quirky comic appeal of foreigners unwittingly eating “strange” tropic fruits, or the antics when a rich naive kid from the provinces comes to the big, bad capital.

In the 1990s, the TV series Si Doel Anak Sekolahan (Doel Gets an Education), focusing on the love between a native Betawi man, Doel (played by Rano Karno, who had starred in the original 1980s movie about the character) and Dutch-Indonesian Sarah (Cornelia Agatha) was a prime-time success.

It ran for seven seasons and a television film version titled Si Doel Anak Pinggiran (Doel the Marginalized) was released, revisiting Doel 10 years after his marriage to Sarah. The lasting appeal of Doel was evident recently when Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, who hails from Central Java’s Surakarta, planned a campaign tour with Rano Karno during his successful bid for the Jakarta governorship.

The most recent soap focusing on the theme is Nyong Mutiara Hitam (Nyong the Black Pearl), which follows the love story between the son of a clove farmer, who has moved to Jakarta from Tidore Island, North Maluku province, and a metropolitan young woman. The culture clash between the two leads is played up.

A comedy program for Indonesian families, Nyong Mutiara Hitam, also aims to introduce the beauty of Indonesia’s eastern regions to a wider public. The soap filmed 60 percent of its scenes on Tidore Island and the remainder in Jakarta.

“Tidore Island has unique art and culture as well as beautiful scenery, which we wanted to highlight in this soap opera,” producer Ade M. Nur, who also hails from Tidore, told entertainment news portal kapanlagi.com.

Following on from the success of Si Doel Anak Sekolahan, Ade hopes the new soap will be able to follow its Jakarta-themed predecessor.

The soap offers fresh talent in Arief Muhammad, who is also known as Arief Pocong, playing Nyong, alongside Arumi Bachsin as Diana, the metropolitan girl and Nyong’s love interest. Arief usually works behind the scenes as a writer.

“At first, I rejected the role. I prefer writing to acting. But, since they kept asking me, I read the script and found that the plot was interesting and different to other love-themed soaps,” Arief told kapanlagi.com.

Arief said he conducted extensive research on Tidore culture, including watching videos on YouTube and hanging out with Tidorese involved in its production.

Other cast members include veteran actors Ray Sahetapy, Cok Simbara and Edi Riwanto. It will be aired on MNC TV.