Uzalo will continue to thrill viewers
MZANSI’S much-loved soap Uzalo has returned this year for its third season. And what’s even better is that the flagship show is on our screens five days a week, instead of its usual three-day slot.
The original and very dramatic premise of Uzalo, about two sons being switched at birth, set the show off to a great start.
Then the melodramatic storytelling, high action and high stakes, strong showcasing of KwaMashu as a character in the story and a very talented cast ensemble gave the show a very strong definitive style.
“Bumping up to five days a week is great for the team as a whole because it means the broadcaster recognises and approves of the work we are offering and that our most loyal viewers have got what they have been asking for over the past two years,” said Uzalo creative director Mmamitse Thibedi.
Season three is full of actionpacked story climaxes, intrigue, melodrama and romance.
Thibedi said season three was kick-started with the introduction of a new villain, a cunning and dangerous man named Nkunzi, who has an unhealthy relationship with fire.
“Nkunzi occupies the Xulu house. In a parallel household, our fallen hero, Pastor Melusi Mdletshe, comes back to claim his place with his family and the church.”
An unlikely relationship begins between the two patriarchs, with the pastor coerced into a business relationship with Nkunzi under false pretences.
“All hell breaks loose as Nkunzi’s true intentions are revealed, with Mxolisi squarely placed between the two men,” she said.
Another new face added to the season is advocate Bheki Zulu, played by Luthuli Dlamini. He is Manzuza’s lover and saviour, and enters the world to give legal assistance to Manzuza. Viewers soon realise that they have a past, and the advocate would like to rekindle that past.
Innocentia Mhlongo, played by Sthandwa Nzuzo, Nkunzi’s wife and Zekhethelo’s stepmother, arrives in KwaMashu to find her husband in Mangcobo’s arms.
She has to fight to save her marriage. And Zekhethelo Mhlongo, played by Nyalleng Thibedi, is Nkunzi’s daughter and Mxolisi’s love interest. It’s love at first sight between her and Mxolisi, but they come from different sides of the battlefield.
The new season will also be shot in parts of the inner city, with KwaMashu still being a base location.
“We have a story arc that requires that we shoot in the inner city of Durban. We also have scenes that are shot at a game lodge closer to Pietermaritzburg and some scenes that take us back to our beloved Inanda, above the dam at a place called Matata,” said Thibedi. Uzalo was commissioned for a third season after doing very well over the years it has been on TV.
“We did not expect its quick growth. The initial idea was for a telenovela, and so we wrote and designed the show, whose story has a beginning, middle and end. The way the show has grown has been a pleasant surprise to us,” she said.