Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Sucked into mayfair
All the hallmarks of an exciting gangster thriller
SOUTH Africa’s A-listers come together with British actor Ronak Patani in director Sara Blecher’s new film Mayfair, set to release on Friday.
Taking up the lead, Patani stars in the role of estranged son Zaid. Fired from his job overseas at a refugee camp, he returns home to Mayfair, Joburg, a melting pot of immigrants from across Africa, where his overbearing father Aziz (Rajesh Gopie), a businessman and occasional money launderer, is facing death threats.
“He is the protagonist in the film, he’s the eldest son of the family, who goes overseas because he can’t stomach the kind of life his father leads. But he has to come back because he gets fired from his aid job in Kenya, he then gets sucked into the nasty Joburg criminal underworld,” said Patani about his character.
Although he has acted in a variety of films, including the Hollywood remake of Point Break, the 1993 surfer cult classic, this is Patani’s first lead in a film.
“I’ve been working steadily in the UK for the past five years, but this is my first major role on this scale. And I wanted to do justice to it,” he said.
Patani said he spent a lot of time in Mayfair trying to get the accent.
“We would chill out in Oriental Plaza, have some chow, talk to some of the guys and just observe the vibe. See how people talk to each other and behave. I wanted to make it as natural as possible. Now, when I get to South Africa, I automatically talk in a South African accent,” said Patani.
He was drawn to the role because it had all the hallmarks of an exciting gangster thriller, but with heart and lightness of a family drama.
“I see so much of the internal conflict of young Asian men in Zaid. There are many similarities between me and Zaid. People needed to believe that I was genuinely from here to relate to the story; I think we nailed it.”
In preparing for the role, Patani spent some time talking to his friends who did charity work, trying to see what it was like seeing that level of poverty, distress and death. “I needed to know why would somebody want to do that…
“The gangster side of this character was a bit easier. I come from a very gangster part of London,” said Patani.
About the four-week shoot, he said he was blessed to have worked with such an unbelievably talented crew and cast. “I only met the other actors when I got to set, but working with them is on another level compared to British actors. They were so much more instinctual (and) put in their heart and soul,” said Patani. Other actors are Wayne van Rooyen, Ameera Patel, Ilse Klink, Warren Masemola and Jack Devnarain.