Indonesia: How a man's affair with his mother-in-law became a viral film

Norma, a movie based on a viral true story from TikTok, has become a nationwide obsession.

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It's the kind of plot that was always going to attract melodrama fans. But what has made Norma a nationwide obsession is the fact that it's based on a viral true story.

In 2022, Norma Risma, a woman in Serang City on Indonesia's Java island, exposed her husband and mother's affair in a TikTok video.

Her story quickly racked up millions of views, made headlines and ultimately brought her a movie deal that has taken South East Asia by storm.

Norma, which hit Indonesian theatres in March and Netflix in August, soon became one of the most watched movies, not just in Indonesia but also Malaysia and Singapore, where there are large Malay-Muslim populations.