J ayan Moodley
the story to life. We faced every possible challenge. We shot with a crew of just five and in the end, we had a film. “I still call it the ‘miracle’ film! “It taught me that impossible is nothing, that if we really believe in something we can make it happen, that if we love something enough we will make the time for it.”
The lessons she learned from that project led her to take her biggest chance, a film about a Chatsworth family that would become a box office hit, Keeping Up With the Kandasamys.
“The research aspect of this film was different from every other project I’d worked on,” she says, “as the aim was to reproduce an authentic view of something I am part of, the Indian South African community.
“The writing process with Rory Booth was loads of fun as he grew up in Chatsworth. So we’d know a typical Aunty Jennifer or Shanti. We just had to weave the story together nicely and ensure we never lost sight of the comedy. It worked because we both knew what aspects we wanted to concentrate on. His strength is comedy; mine is the story flow.”
When the script was completed, the next biggest challenge was finding the right actors.
“I had a few people in mind,” she says, “particularly Jailoshini Naidoo and Maeshni Naicker, and both nailed their auditions. I had hoped Mishqah Parthiephal and Madhushan Singh would play the young couple in love and their callback proved they could pull it off.
“I already had Koobeshen Naidoo in mind while writing and his audition was almost a formality, but he still had to bring it, and he did. Rajesh Gopie was a natural choice and Mariam Bassa, who plays everyone’s favourite character, Aya, was so good in the audition that I considered giving Aya more screen time.”
With the script, casting and final production completed, the film was no longer in her control. It would then be up to what audiences made of it.
“We never know what the reception will be like and are anxious before the opening weekend,” she says.
“After that, we appreciated the support and many clearly spread the love because the film did even better on the second weekend than the first.”
By its fourth week in cinemas, box office takings were R6.4 million with talk of an international release.
“We’ve just received development funding for our next feature, Imprisoned, a new documentary called The Hindu Woman and hopefully a Kandasamys sequel.”
Reflecting on her journey, she says: “Making the film taught me many things, including determination and dedication in anything I do. It also taught me the importance of making something different and pushing the boundaries.
“Its reception showed people love comedy, especially one with heart, and that we get attached to the film because of the characters and location. It is very special to have a film that is loved.”