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THE Multiverse, with the possibilities of actors playing many versions of the same character, is all the rage today. As this type of story dominates Hollywood blockbusters, it is now coming to small screens via regional streaming service Viu with Seribu Nina, a comedy fantasy romance.
Featuring local star talent such as Adriana Adnan, Syafiq Kyle, and Marsha Milan, produced by Gayatri Su-Lin Pillai and directed by Umi Salwana Omar, Seribu Nina follows a dimension-hopping love story, with funhouse variations of Kuala Lumpur playing out across the duration of the 10-episode series.
Viu is PCCW’s leading pan-regional OTT video streaming service. Two 60-minute episodes of the Viu Original drama will be released every Thursday.
As part of a launch event held on Tuesday (May 17) at Dadi Cinema Pavilion KL, which was attended by members of the cast and crew, the first episode was played in front of a live audience.
As the show begins, Amar (Syafiq Kyle) and Nina (Adriana Adnan) are celebrating their third anniversary together, but something feels off. Nina is expecting an engagement ring and a wedding soon after, but Amar, despite his feelings for her, can’t quite commit. They are playing pretty conventional rom-com types, he’s planning obsessed and detail-oriented, and she’s always late and is spontaneous to a fault.
Their relationship plays out pretty normally for half the episode before we are introduced to Didi (Marsha Milan), a bumbling and quite inept inter-dimensional cop (it’s still a bit vague in the first episode), who wants to nab Nina before a mysterious ninja-type character can get to her. She falls on her face (repeatedly) and Nina is dragged away into another dimension. Didi and Amar, despite not really liking each other, are right behind.
They land into a crime-ridden KL where everyone has guns and drinks the devil’s arak. The tone doesn’t shift as Seribu Nina keeps things light and goofy. This dimension is more Back to the Future Part 2 than it is Mad Max. We also get our first looks at ‘variants’ (in Marvel speak) of Amar and Nina, who are appropriately over the top.
It ends on a cliffhanger, with the rest of the series promising to offer a combination of comedy, drama, romance and light science fiction hijinks. Amar will embark on an adventure across a thousand parallel dimensions to find Nina, leading them to discover their feelings for one another, while sparking connections with unexpected friends.
Throughout this whole time, you can tell the actors are having a lot of fun with their characters, playing things up for the camera. Syafiq is generally the most understated performer – though he does make the most of his alternate versions. Though the show is mostly a comedy, he can handle the dramatic bits as well.
Although she only played two different versions of herself in the first episode, Adriana mentioned during the press conference that she plays eight iterations of Nina (not a thousand though), so there’s something to look forward to on that front. She is very capable of juggling the different aspects of her character.
Marsha is having the most fun, turning up the bumbling nature of her character up to 11. She is very willing to make a fool out of herself, literally taking the hits. In many ways, she embodies the wild swings the show takes in terms of tone. With her big personality, she is sure to be a fan favourite.
Seribu Nina is directed by Umi Salwana Omar, a local director who was nominated for Best New Director at the Malaysian Film Festival 2019. You can tell the show was filmed on a budget, but the filmmaking surprises at some parts. It’s not mind-blowing effects-wise, but there are some neat tricks here and there.
All in all, this is a very Malaysian show in terms of sensibility and hopefully, it can appeal to audiences outside the country. The love story, while told in a way local audiences are used to, is quite universal in many ways, too.
Romantic comedies are always popular, and the multi-dimensional twist might be enough to set Seribu Nina apart. – The Vibes, May 19, 2022
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