# What's Up with Love?
**What's Up with Love?** (Indonesian: *Ada Apa Dengan Cinta?*) is a 2002 Indonesian teen romance-drama film directed by Rudy Soedjarwo, in which a popular Jakarta high school girl strains her relationship with her close-knit clique when she falls for a reclusive schoolmate who beats her in the school poetry contest.[1](https://mubi.com/en/us/films/whats-up-with-love) • [2](https://nationalindowebzine.blogspot.com/2014/11/ada-apa-dengan-cinta-analysis-of-editing.html) Produced by Riri Riza and Mira Lesmana for Miles Films, it became a landmark of the revival of Indonesian national cinema and spawned a 2003 television series, a 2016 theatrical sequel, and long-running rumors of a third film.[3](https://usa.newonnetflix.info/info/81016342) • [4](https://jurnal.kwikkiangie.ac.id/index.php/JKB/article/download/1038/731/3737)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title | *Ada Apa Dengan Cinta?* (often abbreviated AADC) |
| Release | 8 February 2002, Indonesia[2](https://nationalindowebzine.blogspot.com/2014/11/ada-apa-dengan-cinta-analysis-of-editing.html) |
| Director / producers | Directed by Rudy Soedjarwo; produced by Riri Riza and Mira Lesmana[3](https://usa.newonnetflix.info/info/81016342) |
| Writers | Jujur Prananto and Prima Rusdi[2](https://nationalindowebzine.blogspot.com/2014/11/ada-apa-dengan-cinta-analysis-of-editing.html) |
| Leads | Dian Sastrowardoyo as Cinta, Nicholas Saputra as Rangga[5](https://pedia.watcha.com/en/contents/mWy3pYd) |
| Runtime / budget | About 110 to 112 minutes; budget US$295,000; box office US$10 million[6](https://watch.plex.tv/en-GB/movie/whats-up-with-cinta) |
| Reception | IMDb 7.7/10 from about 3.6K ratings; Rotten Tomatoes 84%[7](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0307920/ratings) • [3](https://usa.newonnetflix.info/info/81016342) |
| Sequel | *Ada Apa Dengan Cinta? 2* (2016), directed by Riri Riza, drew 3.6 million viewers[8](https://openlibrarypublications.telkomuniversity.ac.id/index.php/management/article/download/17676/17420) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and characters
Cinta (Dian Sastrowardoyo) is a confident seventeen-year-old senior in suburban Jakarta with popularity, supportive parents, and a tight group of four girlfriends: Maura (Titi Kamal), Alya (Ladya Cheryl), Karmen (Adinia Wirasti), and Milly (Sissy Priscillia). Her ordered life is upset when Rangga (Nicholas Saputra), a reclusive boy, wins the yearly school poetry contest she expected to take, and she is assigned to interview him for her bulletin board group.[5](https://pedia.watcha.com/en/contents/mWy3pYd) • [2](https://nationalindowebzine.blogspot.com/2014/11/ada-apa-dengan-cinta-analysis-of-editing.html)
Rangga's presence triggers jealousy among Cinta's friends, and the girls eventually pressure her to choose between them and him. The film follows the couple's growing infatuation, ambivalence, and near misunderstanding; one account of the plot adds that Rangga's father's political background is considered "dangerous" by the government and threatens Rangga's family, while Rangga and his father leave for New York.[5](https://pedia.watcha.com/en/contents/mWy3pYd) • [9](https://www.moviemeter.nl/film/41451) • [20](https://2024.jaff-filmfest.org/id/whats-with-love/) MUBI's synopsis frames the same conflict as a popular girl straining her clique by falling for a lower-class schoolmate.[1](https://mubi.com/en/us/films/whats-up-with-love)
## Production
The film was written by Jujur Prananto and Prima Rusdi and produced by Miles Productions and Miles Films, the company established in March 1995 and headed by Mira Lesmana and Riri Riza.[2](https://nationalindowebzine.blogspot.com/2014/11/ada-apa-dengan-cinta-analysis-of-editing.html) • [8](https://openlibrarypublications.telkomuniversity.ac.id/index.php/management/article/download/17676/17420) Riri Riza, who had directed *Petualangan Sherina* (2000) with Lesmana, again collaborated with her as producer on this film, continuing a partnership that later produced *[Gie](https://www.edgepedia.org/gie)* (2005) and *Laskar Pelangi* (2008).[10](https://etheses.iainmadura.ac.id/4954/6/Shafira%20Chairunnisa%20R_19381032122_BAB%20I_TBI.pdf)
A detail that entered popular culture independently of the film is Rangga's love poem: in 2002 the director Rako Prijanto, then an assistant director, was entrusted by Mira Lesmana to compose it. The poem became popular among young people, who recognized it as a scene from the movie.[11](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/371449360_DISCOURSE_ANALYSIS_OF_MOVIES_TRAPED_IN_NOSTALGIA_RAKO_PRIJANTO%27S_WORKS) The soundtrack was created by the musician [Melly Goeslaw](https://www.edgepedia.org/melly-goeslaw), who marked the film's twentieth anniversary by posting a clip from it in 2022.[12](https://en.kapanlagi.com/celebrity/20-years-have-passed-here-are-the-before-and-after-photos-of-the-whats-up-with-love-cast-who-still-look-young-astonishing.html)
## Reception and significance
The film is regularly credited with helping revive the Indonesian film industry. A study of national cinema notes that the success of *Petualangan Sherina* (2000) and *What's Up With Love?* triggered the development of the national film industry, visible in the expansion of the XXI cinema network and the emergence of the Blitzmegaplex chain in 2006; another survey calls it the film that "revived the Indonesian film industry" alongside later commercial successes.[4](https://jurnal.kwikkiangie.ac.id/index.php/JKB/article/download/1038/731/3737) • [13](https://conferences.uin-malang.ac.id/index.php/icied/article/download/2032/886) Against a budget of US$295,000 it earned about US$10 million at the box office.[6](https://watch.plex.tv/en-GB/movie/whats-up-with-cinta)
Its afterlife has been long. An RCTI television continuation premiered on 7 December 2003, running 84 episodes in one season with Ririn Dwi Ariyanti as Cinta, picking up the story of Rangga's delayed return to Indonesia.[14](https://www.moviefone.com/tv-shows/whats-up-with-love/D5ac4NBKij2KfvvX6ZGWP/where-to-watch/) • [15](https://www.justwatch.com/id/tv-show/ada-apa-dengan-cinta/season-1) In 2016, fourteen years after the original, *[Ada Apa Dengan Cinta? 2](https://www.edgepedia.org/ada-apa-dengan-cinta-2)*, directed by Riri Riza for Miles Films, became the top box office Indonesian film of its release with 3.6 million viewers, and its depiction of Ratu Boko Temple was credited with increasing visits to that site.[8](https://openlibrarypublications.telkomuniversity.ac.id/index.php/management/article/download/17676/17420) As of December 2023, Riri Riza said he and Mira Lesmana had discussed a third film and even created its logo, though plans had shifted; the 2016 ending was widely considered unresolved, keeping rumors of *AADC 3* in public attention.[16](https://en.kapanlagi.com/indonesian-movie/continuing-rumors-riri-riza-reveals-plans-for-aadc-3-but-experienced-changes-in-plans.html)
The film also remains a touchstone in Indonesian cultural life and education. It is described in language-teaching material as a contemporary Indonesian teenage film about love and values with elements of classical culture and politics,[17](https://aveleypslanguages.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/world-student-indonesia-booklet.pdf) and scholarship on Indonesian literature classrooms cites it, alongside *Laskar Pelangi*, as a film that conveys complex ideas and characters and helps students connect with cultural and historical contexts.[18](https://ejournal.unib.ac.id/JEET/article/download/35998/15166/112828) Its protagonists' names are still used in advertising that trades on Millennial nostalgia, as when an Indomie campaign in 2025 invited viewers to "feel the story of Rangga & Cinta" in cinemas.[19](https://repository.paramadina.ac.id/1967/1/Local%20Content-Based%20Digital%20Advertising%20Strategy%20on%20Instagram%20%40indomie.pdf)
## Cast
- Dian Sastrowardoyo as Cinta[5](https://pedia.watcha.com/en/contents/mWy3pYd)
- Nicholas Saputra as Rangga[5](https://pedia.watcha.com/en/contents/mWy3pYd)
- Titi Kamal as Maura[5](https://pedia.watcha.com/en/contents/mWy3pYd)
- Ladya Cheryl as Alya[5](https://pedia.watcha.com/en/contents/mWy3pYd)
- Adinia Wirasti as Karmen[5](https://pedia.watcha.com/en/contents/mWy3pYd)
- Sissy Priscillia as Milly[5](https://pedia.watcha.com/en/contents/mWy3pYd)
- Dennis Adhiswara as Mamet[3](https://usa.newonnetflix.info/info/81016342)
Several cast members built careers on the film's success: Adinia Wirasti won the Citra Award for Best Supporting Actress a few years after playing Karmen, and Dian Sastrowardoyo later worked as a producer and director as well as an actor.[12](https://en.kapanlagi.com/celebrity/20-years-have-passed-here-are-the-before-and-after-photos-of-the-whats-up-with-love-cast-who-still-look-young-astonishing.html)
## References
1. [What's Up with Love? (2002), MUBI](https://mubi.com/en/us/films/whats-up-with-love)
2. [Ada Apa Dengan Cinta? – Analysis of Editing, National Cinema Webzine](https://nationalindowebzine.blogspot.com/2014/11/ada-apa-dengan-cinta-analysis-of-editing.html)
3. [What's Up With Love? on Netflix USA, New On Netflix](https://usa.newonnetflix.info/info/81016342)
4. [Gamson–Modigliani Framing Analysis, Jurnal Kwik Kian Gie](https://jurnal.kwikkiangie.ac.id/index.php/JKB/article/download/1038/731/3737)
5. [What's Up with Love? (2002), Watcha Pedia](https://pedia.watcha.com/en/contents/mWy3pYd)
6. [Where to Watch What's Up with Love? (2002), Plex](https://watch.plex.tv/en-GB/movie/whats-up-with-cinta)
7. [What's Up with Love? (2002) – Ratings, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0307920/ratings)
8. [AADC 2 and film-induced tourism, Telkom University Open Library Publications](https://openlibrarypublications.telkomuniversity.ac.id/index.php/management/article/download/17676/17420)
9. [Ada Apa Dengan Cinta? (2002), MovieMeter.nl](https://www.moviemeter.nl/film/41451)
10. [Shafira Chairunnisa R., thesis chapter on Riri Riza and Mira Lesmana, IAIN Madura](https://etheses.iainmadura.ac.id/4954/6/Shafira%20Chairunnisa%20R_19381032122_BAB%20I_TBI.pdf)
11. [Discourse Analysis of Movies Trapped in Nostalgia: Rako Prijanto's Works, ResearchGate](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/371449360_DISCOURSE_ANALYSIS_OF_MOVIES_TRAPED_IN_NOSTALGIA_RAKO_PRIJANTO%27S_WORKS)
12. [20 Years Have Passed: The 'What's Up with Love' Cast, KapanLagi](https://en.kapanlagi.com/celebrity/20-years-have-passed-here-are-the-before-and-after-photos-of-the-whats-up-with-love-cast-who-still-look-young-astonishing.html)
13. [Proceeding International Conference on Islamic Education, UIN Malang](https://conferences.uin-malang.ac.id/index.php/icied/article/download/2032/886)
14. [What's Up with Love? (2003–2005), Moviefone](https://www.moviefone.com/tv-shows/whats-up-with-love/D5ac4NBKij2KfvvX6ZGWP/where-to-watch/)
15. [What's Up with Love? Season 1, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/id/tv-show/ada-apa-dengan-cinta/season-1)
16. [Riri Riza Reveals Plans for 'AADC 3', KapanLagi](https://en.kapanlagi.com/indonesian-movie/continuing-rumors-riri-riza-reveals-plans-for-aadc-3-but-experienced-changes-in-plans.html)
17. [You'll Get More Out of Visiting Indonesia, language student booklet](https://aveleypslanguages.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/world-student-indonesia-booklet.pdf)
18. [Journal of English Education and Teaching, University of Bengkulu](https://ejournal.unib.ac.id/JEET/article/download/35998/15166/112828)
19. [Local Content-Based Digital Advertising Strategy on Instagram @indomie, Paramadina Repository](https://repository.paramadina.ac.id/1967/1/Local%20Content-Based%20Digital%20Advertising%20Strategy%20on%20Instagram%20%40indomie.pdf)
20. [What’s With Love?](https://2024.jaff-filmfest.org/id/whats-with-love/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedy-drama films*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license