Writer: Nur Safina Othman

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Watch this if you liked: "Cinta","Sepi" and "Setem"

The "Nur Kasih" phenomenon has not only garnered a following in Malaysia alone, but also in its neighbouring countries such as Singapore and Brunei. After 19 million viewers tuned in to the series finale on TV, director Khabir Bhatia has adapted the popular drama series for the big-screen.

With no cast changes made from the original TV series ensemble, Aidil (played by Fizz Fairuz), Adam (played by Remy Ishak) and Nur Amina (played by Tiz Zaqyah), "Nur Kasih The Movie" (NKTM) follows the trio six years after the events depicted in the series finale. In NKTM, we see Aidil who has to raise his two children as a single parent after the death of his wife (played by Ayu Raudhah), meanwhile Adam and Nur are seen to go through many obstacles even though they try to lead a happy life together.

Just like the TV series, NKTM focuses on the Islamic way of life as well as the importance of family values that are rarely focused upon by other local directors and scriptwriters. Paired with breathtaking cinematography, its comes as no surprise that the series has garnered such a huge following. However for NKTM, audiences will feel that the scriptwriters had difficulties in finding a closure to the long-winded story. For those who are not followers of the TV series, they will definitely find it hard to catch up to NKTM, as a lot is packed into its short 90-minute time span. Furthermore, there are several scenes of flashbacks that are related to the series therefore audiences who are not avid fans of the series will definitely lose concentration.

In the series, many characters were introduced to keep the pace of the story exciting, for the movie adaptation however, the main focus is only directed towards its 3 main casts. The trio did a fair job of bringing their characters to life just as how they did in the TV series.

Whether or not the movie will serve a better experience than the series is up to the audiences themselves to decide. Lined by a cast that's laden by controversies, the film that had a budget of RM2.8 million might just fare well with the fans of the series.

Cinema Online, 19 May 2011