Pearl’s awkward kisses
KALUSHI leading stars Thabo Rametsi and Pearl Thusi are the ultimate dynamic movie duo.
Rametsi portrays struggle stalwart Solomon “Kalushi” Mahlangu, while Thusi plays his love interest Brenda, in the biopic hitting cinemas nationwide today. But the pair’s platonic friendship dates back to before they became famous.
Thusi reveals that Rametsi, who has appeared in Hollywood projects such as
Homeland and The Giver, even helped her score her big acting gig on American drama series Quantico last year.
“I think I auditioned three times for
Quantico with the same script. Each time I would spend five hours on the same thing and do it over and over again until I couldn’t do it anymore,” Thusi pointed out.
“I would just call him and ask ‘Thabo are you busy?’ because I forget he has a life
“We worked on the script and he would direct me. It’s difficult to have to listen to your peer, but I listened to him. The relationship that has trust is the only relationship that you need. I trust him. He has just been a rock in my life. I got the gig and I had to move to the States in two weeks.”
Thusi acknowledged that it was weird to shoot the film’s love scenes with her best friend.
“We have a real friendship, so much so that kissing was such a weird thing for us to do. Nobody has talked about it since,” Thusi explained.
“Thabo and I have known each other since we were both nothing. I didn’t know that he was an actor and he didn’t know that I was an actress at first. We did a SAMAs (SA Music Awards) yellow carpet gig as presenters – an online live streaming thing, it wasn’t even on TV. We just hit it off.” Directed by Mandla Dube, it took 10 years for the film to make it to the big screen. Thusi admitted that although it was frustrating it was worth the wait. She added that she didn’t know much about the unsung hero and working on the film made her appreciate her freedom even more. “I didn’t know as much as I should have known about Solomon Mahlangu before doing this film and I learned a lot from the script. I learned a lot about what a young person must have been going through during apartheid and 1976 era. “It made me appreciate my freedom more and the resilience of young people.”