Wearing two hats
Leleti Khumalo is living a double life both on and offscreen thanks to Imbewu: The Seed.
“In life we all have secrets that we wouldn’t want anyone to know about,” says Leleti Khumalo, the star and executive producer of e.tv’s new telenovela, Imbewu: The Seed (2018). She’s working alongside Muvhango’s (1997- current) creator Duma Ndlovu and veteran South African producer Anant Singh, and with 27 episodes of Imbewu under her belt, Leleti shares intimate behind-the-scenes details of what it has been like both playing MaZulu, a woman with a soul- destroying secret, and executive producing on the show that lured her away from her role as MaNzuza on South Africa’s number-one show Uzalo (2015- current, see more on p5 & 12).
ANY WAY, BABY
Leleti, who is mom to twins, spent a long time thinking through her new character’s dilemma since MaZulu, in collusion with her mother-in-law MaNdlovu (Thembi Mtshali-Jones), secretly has babies with her botherin-law when her own husband proves infertile. Leleti whistles, laughs and hesitates before confiding, “I always ask myself that. I think about what I would do maybe in a different way? As women, we always act for family, we love family and we love [the idea of] love. And when you find out that there’s something wrong with both of you or one of you, you think, ‘Okay, what can we do? What can we try?’ I know from experience that men, they always say, ‘It’s okay. If it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen’. I remember very well years ago I had a couple of miscarriages and my husband was like, ‘No, let’s not do this anymore. Because I feel for you, when these miscarriages happen, I feel for you!’ But when it came to me, I was like, ‘It’s okay. I don’t mind. I don’t mind trying again’.”
REUNITED
Playing MaZulu reunites Leleti with her fellow ex-Uzalo star Mpumelelo Bhulose (Muzi Xulu, aka Gxabhashe), who portrays MaZulu’s power-hungry hubby Zimele. “Reuniting with him is brilliant because we know one another from way back,” explains Leleti. “But it’s going to be difficult for both of us, as people still have these fresh memories of what we were giving in Uzalo. Even if you are trying hard to steer away from your last character, sometimes it brings back, ‘Oh this is Gxhabashe’. But we are mixed with new people as well. We are working with people who have never acted before, but what they are doing is so amazing. I get a shock every day. It shows you that the talent in KZN is unbelievable.”
TRUE COLOURS
Despite all the onscreen secrets, Leleti wanted to be open with one thing: her skin condition vitiligo, which led to extensive work and thought during early make-up tests for Imbewu. “That was a challenge. I went to the make-up team and I sat down with the directors and said, ‘I wonder if the broadcaster will allow me to not cover the vitiligo altogether but to do it in a way that it shouldn’t shock people out there.’ They shouldn’t say, ‘Wooh, what’s happening?’ From there, I went back and we did many makeup tests and many reshoots,” Leleti reveals. “We were saying, ‘No, no, no, no. This doesn’t work. At some stage it became heavy for me and I was like, ‘I’ve made a mistake’. But eventually we got it and we’re all about it. Let’s hope that people out there, especially people who have vitiligo, will see it in a different way. Because you shouldn’t be defined by how you look. If you embrace it, if you are comfortable with it, people will feel comfortable with you, with vitiligo.”
LELETI IN CHARGE
After years in the industry, Leleti has clear goals about the kind of executive producer she wants to be. “I’ve seen for so many years that your crew and your camera people, your actors, sometimes the way that they’re treated is not the way that they deserve and they work so hard! So in this role as executive producer, I have to make sure that every day the team feels like this is their second home. When they come to work, they must think, ‘Ah, I couldn’t wait to be here!’ And when the day finishes, they should feel like, ‘I can’t wait for the next day’,” she smiles.
WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT
“Imbewu means ‘ the seed’. In African culture, it’s very important for a man to have a baby boy so that the family does not die. So that is the seed we are talking about,” explains Leleti. “It [infertility] is something that you cannot mention because it can damage your family and your partner.” Imbewu’s take on fertility issues and cultural practices is blended with a story about the interrelationship between black and Indian communities in KZN. “There’s this love-hate relationship. There’s this relationship where black people, they want to show that we can’t be under Indian people and vice-versa with Indian people as well, that they cannot be under black people [at work],” explains Leleti.
But if that doesn’t grab you, perhaps the gorgeous scenery and film work will. “We are shooting the exteriors in rural areas and shooting in Chatsworth, we’re shooting in the township and mixing all of that life together, and we decided to go the route as if we’re shooting a movie. It’s not going to feel like you are watching a soapie,” Leleti says happily.