Sundul Gan: The Story of Kaskus sits in fresh contrast to the usual sugar-coated zero-to-hero biopics that seek to make cult figures out of the characters.

It tells the story of Andrew Darwis and Ken Dean Lawadinata, who brought their startup from the US back to their homeland of Indonesia and built their baby into the largest online forum in the nation with various social communities and online traders.

Their inspiring story has been published in a book and told countless times in seminars and workshops, but filmmaker Putrama Tuta, here acting as producer under 700 Pictures, chose the period around 2008 when the company’s history was just beginning.

Instead of dwelling on their struggle to upgrade the business, the film gives Kaskusers — the Kaskus users — a peek into the private chatroom of the founders that might break all assumptions about their genius.

Ken (Dion Wiyoko) is the boy-next-door from a family with money. He is still undecided about his future and spends his time playing Wii around the clock, until his parents send him to study in Seattle.

There he meets Andrew Darwis (Albert Halim), an IT student who is in a committed relationship with his laptop. Andrew turns out to be Ken’s cousin by marriage and also the famous Mimin, the administrator of underground site Kaskus.

Kaskus is the portmanteau of kasak-kusuk that can be translated as small talk, rumors and even snooping around. At the time the site was gaining popularity among young people in Indonesia due to its adult-content forum BB17.

Ken smooth talks Andrew into returning to Indonesia to build an empire together, and uses his parents’ savings for his own wedding.

Nothing goes well at first. Andrew has difficulty adapting to the city he left for six years while also handling the daily running of the website with a limited capacity server. Meanwhile, Ken does the rounds looking for investors.

Although it all ends well, as most viewers will be aware, there is more to the story in the film. It shows that the cousins were not natural business partners due to their contrasting personalities, with a rocky period at the beginning.

The characters give it their best efforts, which are often silly. The film’s most important message, if there is one, is that they have to set their egos aside and work hard to find a solution. Their journey includes the banning of the BB17 forum, dealing with a hacking attempt and having their money swindled.

“People thought that we were geniuses, while what we did was nothing special. In the 17 years since Kaskus was brought to life by Andrew, we did nothing but work every day,” Ken told journalists after the press screening in Epicentrum XXI, South Jakarta, on Tuesday.

Scriptwriters Ilya Sigma and Priesnanda Dwisatria develop the storyline with fast-paced climax building, and there is no slowing down because they were given the freedom by the real-life pair to create several fictitious situations that perfectly suit the dialogue.

In waiting: A scene in the film when Ken’s fiancée Tika (Pamela Bowie, left) and his mother (Melissa Karim) talk about the wedding plans.

Debutante director Naya Anindita, known as the host of online traveling video series Jalan-Jalan Men!, appears to have been the best choice for visualizing the story due to her knack for information technology, gadgets and video games.

She worked with CGI, mostly for the early scenes in Seattle, as well as animation, throughout the entire 90-minute film. She also played with lights and angles to give a lighter tone to the otherwise emotional and thought-provoking story.

Many actors and entertainers make cameo appearances, including Abdurrahman Arif, Afgansyah Reza, Aji Rahmansyah, Baim Wong, Ernest Prakasa, Indra Birowo, Masayu Anastasia, Petra “Jebraw” Michael (Naya’s co-host), Richard Kyle, Ronny P. Tjandra and Tanta Ginting.

But the film really belongs to Dion and Albert, who deliver an emotional on-screen bromance that without doubt will elevate them to the next level in their acting careers.

While differences in physical appearance are excusable in biopics, the actors here show striking resemblance with the real-life characters. Dion gained up to 10 kilograms, while Albert trained his facial muscles to elongate his chin, even though it appears he must have undergone surgery to achieve the effect.

Albert also adopted the habits Andrew exhibits when feeling nervous, from the expressions to his manner of speech. Dion’s Ken is a perfect imitation of the way he drags his feet when he walks, the sneers and the way he smooth talks people into doing whatever he wants them to do.

Naya also enlisted her indie musician friends — including Elephant Kind, Rock & Roll Mafia, Roman Foot Soldiers, Eliezer Mezano & Khrisna Dwi Putra and Sore band — for a soundtrack that contributes to the upbeat ambience.

All in all, the film is an accomplished work by a solid team that reflects the meaning of the title — a term adapted from soccer terminology that literally translates as “please header, Boss”, coined by Mimin to allow a post to gain extra attention with the help of other users reposting it from time to time.

Released on June 2, Sundul Gan is a fun film to watch as it provides a couple of life lessons for start-up founders and also for friends to ponder without being bored by scenes of a coding master at work; there are none here.

Kaskusers: Actors/comedians Ernest Prakasa (left) and Indra Birowo appear as the users of Kaskus’ most phenomenal forum BB17.

— Photos Courtesy of 700 Pictures
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Sundul Gan: The Story of Kaskus

Director: Naya Anindita
Producer: Putrama Tuta
Screenwriter: Ilya Sigma, Priesnanda Dwisatria
Cast: Dion Wiyoko, Albert Halim, Pamela Bowie, Melissa Karim
Duration: 90 minutes
Rating: Adult