It started out as a live show that features a collection of monologues about love, heartbreak, and bitterness – as written by Mark Ghosn. Called Ampalaya Monologues, the show is based on real stories of individuals who have tasted the different kinds of bitterness that love has to offer.
After the show has gone viral, being so popular among young audiences for its musings about the pains of love, streaming platform iWant turned these monologues into a serialized anthology and gave it a new flavor and a new title, Ampalaya Chronicles.
iWant brings bitter and relatable love stories in its original ‘hugot’ anthology series starring Khalil Ramos and Elisse Joson in the pilot episode that tackles one-sided love.
The pilot episode titled “Adik” revolves around shy yet romantic poet Carlo (Khalil), who only wishes to get close to his longtime crush Nina (Elisse). He luckily gets his chance when Nina appears on his doorstep, hoping to get him to help her write and perform poems for her talent portion in an upcoming beauty contest.
As the two get closer, Carlo can’t help but hope that Nina develops feelings for him. However, he painfully realizes that his dream relationship may only seem beautiful in poems.
“Adik” is based on the piece with the same title by spoken word artist Carlo Hornilla, which garnered 8.2 million views on Facebook and is the first-ever Filipino spoken word performance to go viral on Spotify.
The episode is directed by Real Florido, written by Florence Henzon, and produced by Firestarters Production.
“This series talks to a specific generation but at the same time, it has a universal message. Love is universal and it will surely strike a chord to everyone who’s going to watch it. We speak different languages, I mean, the millennials speak a different language, they’re behavior is different, but the series ties every generation because of the story of love,” Florido said during a press conference,
Stream Ampalaya Chronicles for free on the iWant app (iOs and Android) or iwant.ph
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