He’s the boss!
Mpumelelo Bhulose opens the door to reveal how he is bringing no-nonsense businessman Zimele Bhengu to life.
Weekdays (from Monday 16 April) e.tv (*194) 21:30
Uzalo’s (2015- current) Gxabhashe (Mpumelelo Bhulose) might be dead on Friday 4 May, but Mpumelelo himself is back, large and in charge as the ruthless oil magnate Zimele Bhengu in new telenovela Imbewu: The Seed. “He’s a ‘ type A’ kind of guy. He is very hungry and very business-driven. He goes for the jugular and doesn’t stop. But a lot of his decision making is also driven by input that he gets from his mother MaNdlovu (Thembi Mtshali-Jones) because he trusts her on that level,” says Mpumelelo. And as the audience knows, it’s Zimele’s trusted mother who has orchestrated the worst possible betrayal of her son by arranging for Zimele’s wife MaZulu (Leleti Khumalo) to get pregnant by his own brother Phakade (Sandile Dlamini) to conceal the fact that Zimele is infertile.
MAMA DILEMMA
It’s a betrayal that Mpumelelo is still trying to wrap his head around. “Ah man! I think… Agh, that’s a rough one,” he admits. “I keep asking Bra Duma [series co-producer- creator Duma Ndlovu] about this. When Zimele finally finds out, how will he confront these people? Because it’s easy for him to lay it out on his wife and to lay it out on his brother – but how do you dish it out to your mother? She is the one person who he is comfortable with; Zimele and his mother are very close. That one still has me a bit confused.” But that seemingly soapie twist is part of what attracted Mpumelelo to the role. “These are things that happen in my community. This is not just one of those stories that a creative decided to make up. These are things that we are aware happen in the midst of our society, our communities,” he says.
THE MAN IN THE MIRROR
With Gxabhashe becoming such a massive fan favourite, Mpumelelo has put a lot of thought into who exactly Zimele is and giving him a different focus and feel. “He’s slick – the kind of guy who reminds me of JR Ewing [from the series Dallas, 1978-1991 and 2012-2014, played by Larry Hagman],” says Mpumelelo. “When he wants something, it’s very hard to say no to him. When he has the upper hand and he figures out your weak spot, he’ll work on it until you give in. He’s like a boxer. When he punches you in the eye and the eye starts closing, he doesn’t stop punching you in that eye until you submit.”
DOUBLING UP
Mpumelelo is also enjoying the challenges of a dual-language role. “I was telling someone not so long ago that on television, I don’t remember there ever being a Zulu man who is given the character of being a proper business person, who doesn’t only just have conversations in his home language but also speaks the English language as a business language,” he explains. “It brings out another dimension as an artist. You have to go into your head and you have to search for this guy [within yourself, essentially] because obviously when he’s at home he’s a totally different person to how he is at work. At work, he is to the point, but at home he has his guard down until something pushes him off his rail and he will get up and take charge,” he says enthusiastically.
LEADING MAN
“I think it’s one of the biggest opportunities that I’ve ever had as an artist,” reveals Mpumelelo. “When you have been given the responsibility of leading a production, when you get to set and you see everybody standing there and watching you to see how you carry this, that is what drives me. The very first people that you work with, your crew members, your cast members – that’s the first audience that you have. And if you are doing it right you can see it on their faces that, ‘Oh snap! We’ve got it on point.’ That drives me on a daily basis. I’ve got to be better and better and better.”