Robin and Regine: A story of 2 winners

Robin Padilla and Regine Velasquez, his leading lady in Kailangan Ko’y Ikaw, have a lot in common. Both had to overcome major controversies in their lives-Robin his bout with drugs and an illegal possession of firearms case that landed him in jail and Regine, the affair at the US Embassy which landed her on the front pages of the papers.

But both have emerged triumphant from their respective crises. Robin – spurred on by his conversion to the Muslim faith – married live-in partner Liezl Sicangco, mother of his two daughters and only son (who now live in Australia with their mom), turned his back on drugs and alcohol and embraced clean living. Robin recently, has since gained weight, has his hair neatly trimmed and looks none the worse for wear despite his harrowing experience.

Regine, on the other hand, rebounded by winning the Best Major Concert Act, Female category, in the recent Aliw Awards for her two-night sellout concert R2K at Araneta Coliseum. Then she released her latest album, Kailangan Ko’y Ikaw, the soundtrack of their movie and went on a well-received mall tour to promote it. The album’s sales did so well – it turned gold after a week, then platinum and now is on its way to double-platinum status without the movie even having hit the theaters yet! It just goes to show that despite the controversy, Regine remains tops in the hearts of her fans and Pinoy music-lovers as well.

Now, both of them are smiling over the fact that their current movie, Kailangan Ko’y Ikaw, has all indications of becoming another box-office hit like Robin’s team-ups with Sharon Cuneta, and Jolina Mag-dangal. Kailangan Ko’y Ikaw (which has a hauntingly beautiful theme song written by Ogie Alcasid) is a Notting Hill-type story where a superstar singer, played by Regine, meets, gets to know and falls in love with one of her fans, a mechanic named Gimo, played by Robin.

And like in Notting Hill where Hugh Grant very nearly loses Julia Roberts, Regine and Robin get into an argument and break up when Regine’s character Francine pays for the hospital bills of Gimo’s little sister. Gimo, feeling slighted, accuses Francine of acting high-and-mighty and showing she is a better (and richer) person. Francine is hurt, and they fight – but in the end, they get back together again and live happily-ever-after.

In real life, Robin and Regine work well together. Although Robin admits he was star-struck over the prospect of working with Regine, it didn’t get in the way of their shooting. Unknown to most, it was Robin who requested that he portray Gimo when he found out that Viva Films was planning another project with Regine. Regine had already done two successful movies with Christopher de Leon and Aga Muhlach, and Robin seemed the perfect partner for the next one.

"Yes, it was I who requested to work with Regine because I’ve never worked with her," admits Robin at the movie’s presscon at the Shangri-La EDSA Plaza Hotel where a big screen flashed scenes from the movie that everyone said reminded them of Notting Hill.

However, the one difference between Kailangan Ko’y Ikaw and Notting Hill is that the local version has very realistic fight scenes. Robin says that direk Joyce Bernal, who megged this feel-good movie, wanted realism and ordered that the scene look like a real fight as much as possible. The blows were real, not staged. The scene came off really well, and contributed to the overall look of the movie.

Kailangan Ko’y Ikaw opens today in Metro theaters.