BOLLY-ED OVER
BHAI’S Café is a labour of love for debutante film producer Razia Rawoot and her producer-actor husband Mehboob Bawa.
Their maiden film project has recently gone into production with Maynard Kraak (Vrou Soek Boer, Finders Keepers) holding the directorial reigns.
Rawoot explains: “The film tells the story of the Patel family who own a corner cafe in Wynberg. The family comprises Chagan, who opened the shop in the 1970s; his son, Magan, who now runs it and is known as Bhai to his friends and customers; Magan’s wife, Mary; and their three children, Arvind, Rashmi and Kabir. Into their life comes Lionel Amanzi, a former Robben Island exile, who has amassed some wealth in America and returns to Cape Town with his university graduate son, Patrick.
“Together they are buying property in various Cape Town suburbs to build high-rise apartment complexes. The community in Wynberg, where the café is situated, contemplate the offer as times are tough and the money is good. But Magan refuses to sell and becomes a thorn in their side.
“To ‘smoke’ him out, Lionel starts construction and makes life difficult for the Patel family and their customers. Gentrification is a serious issue facing communities in Cape Town, other parts of the country and the world. So we’ve taken this as the core of the film and infused it with really interesting characters who are composites of people we know in real life.”
Bawa, who was named after the Indian film director, Mehboob Khan, takes up the story: “We’ve introduced a romantic sub-plot with a Bollywood-inspired touch leading to heartbreak, emotion and drama. There are Bollywood-styled song sequences with music composed by top Durban-based musician Rajive Mohan. The lyrics were written by Jamal Mukaddam and Yusuf Bassa. Ultimately it’s a feelgood film, so everything is resolved in the end. But the journey for the characters and the audience is an exciting one filled with lots of humour as well.”
Starring South African performers, including Rehane Abrahams, Siv Ngesi, Suraya Rose Santos and Fahruq Valley Omar, the film has Bawa playing the titular role of Bhai. Abrahams, winner of the recent Stellenbosch University Woordefees Best Actress award for her role in the play Womb on Fire, currently running at the Baxter Theatre, plays Mary. Rising star Santos is cast as Rashmi, their daughter, with Ngesi, a talented actor and TV presenter, in the role of Patrick. His father, Lionel, is played by Thabo Bopape. Other performers include veteran actor Omar as Chagan with Elodie Venece, Rameez Nordien, Stavros Cassapis and young Zac Wastie, son of KFM DJ Carl Wastie, rounding up the family as the daughter-inlaw, sons and grandson respectively.
Director Kraak gained a wealth of experience on the popular television series, Generations, as well as films such as Knysna, Sonskyn Beperk and the recently completed political thriller, Last Victims. Three years ago, Kraak motivated Rawoot and Bawa to turn what was originally a sitcom concept into a feature film.
“It’s been a challenging but amazing experience putting the production together,” says Rawoot. “Maynard introduced us to fantastic writers, Aaron Naidoo and Darron Meyer, who worked on the screenplay separately and delivered, based on our original story, a really wonderful script”.
Bhai’s Café wraps up filming on May 7 and then moves into post-production with a potential Valentine’s Day release in February 2019, before hitting global screens. It seems set to make audiences part of the family.