When Love Hymn

When Love Hymn (2009)

Ketika Cinta Bertasbih

Khairul Azzam, an Indonesian student in Egypt, has to support his family in his home country while focusing on his education. He tries to seek refuge and strength in God to help him through it all.

Date of release
2009-10-13
TMDB
5.5 / 10 (2)
Runtime
2h 0m
Genres
Drama, Romance
Director
Chaerul Umam

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Filmed in: Indonesia

Ketika Cinta Bertasbih is a 2009 Indonesian Islamic romance film directed by Chaerul Umam. Starring Cholidi Asadil Alam, Alice Norin, and Oki Setiana Dewi, it follows a young Indonesian student of Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, who is caught in a love triangle with the daughter of an ambassador and a master's student.

Production

Ketika Cinta Bertasbih was directed by Chaerul Umam, who had a reputation for directing films with Islamic themes but had not worked in cinema since the failure of Fatahillah in 1997, for SinemArt Pictures. The soundtrack for the film was provided by Anto Hoed and Melly Goeslaw; the latter considered the soundtrack more difficult than her usual work on teen romances, due to its religious themes.

The screenplay for Ketika Cinta Bertasbih was written by Imam Tantowi, an established director, based on the novel of the same name by Habiburrahman El Shirazy. El Shirazy had risen to prominence through the commercial success of Ayat-Ayat Cinta (Verses of Love, 2008), an adaptation of his 2004 novel which sold more than three million tickets.

Consequently, open casting for Ketika Cinta Bertasbih was conducted in several Indonesian cities, including Jakarta, Padang, Surabaya, Pontianak, and Makassar, over a period of three and a half months. These auditions were designed to find newcomers who had both the desired acting ability and understanding of Islamic teachings.

These auditions resulted in the casting of Cholidi Asadil Alam, Alice Norin, Andi Arsyil Rahman, Oki Setiana Dewi, and Meyda Sefira. Aside from Norin, who had had experience in soap operas, none of the actors cast through the talent search had previous acting credits. All, however, had competed at the national level in other fields. Several supporting roles were taken by established actors such as Niniek L.

The budget for Ketika Cinta Bertasbih was large by Indonesian standards, approximately Rp 40 billion (USD 4 million). Shooting took place in Egypt and in Indonesia. As part of its emphasis on Islamic messaging, unmarried actors and actresses were not allowed to touch on screen.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

Recommended