Zulu romcom to hit big screen
AFTER 10 years in the making, Lineo Sekeleoana’s romanticZulu Wedding is due to be released early next year.
It’s a first for South Africa to have a black female producer and director, who also created the concept for the film.
Unashamedly romantic, glamorous and hilarious, the film pays loving tribute to the richness of African culture.
It acknowledges the – sometimes schizophrenic – reality of many urban South Africans who live sophisticated, modern lives which are nonetheless shaped by their family cultures, traditions and expectations. The film is set to open at cinemas nationwide on February 23 next year.
Feisty choreographer Lou “Lungile”, played by Nondumiso Tembe, will do anything to avoid falling in love. Even more to avoid going home to South Africa, where she’s traditionally engaged to a king.
However, when she meets her soulmate Tex, played by US actor Darrin Dewitt Henson, she is forced to confront the tradition she’s been running away from since the death of her parents when she turned 18, and the ancestral debt they left her.
She hatches a plan to confront the king and convince him to forget about her, but when she prevails upon handsome royal adviser Zulu, played by Pallance Dladla, to help her get into the royal compound, he proves to be a seductive charmer, one who seems to represent all the best aspects of her background.
Tex, his wise-cracking best friend, Nate (Carl Payne), Lou’s eccentric traffic officer sister, Mabo (Makgano Mambolo), and her tell-it-like-it-is alcoholic best friend, Sam (Bubu Mazibuko), set off to “the rurals” to rescue her while the shifty Uncle Phineas (Jerry Phele), his sexy wife, Yvonne (Kelly Khumalo), and The Basotho 10, (lead by TKZee Family’s Gwyza) stay behind.
According to Sekeleoane, the film was 10 years in the making.
“The idea started in the emergency room of a hospital as I formulated a joke scenario for an actress friend of mine.
“She liked the scenario and the character, an insane traffic cop by the name of Mabo who never takes off her uniform. As I started to shape that character’s world, the focus of the narrative shifted to her sister, Lou, and Zulu Wedding was born,” Sekeleoane said.
She said the insane traffic cop role, brought to life by Makgano Mamabolo, remains an important character in the film.
“The entire cast was amazing. After doing castings in New York, Los Angeles and Johannesburg and seeing hundreds of people over several years, I can truly say that we were blessed. Every person brought something special to the project,” she added.
With an effervescent screenplay by Julie Hall and cinematography by awardwinning Lance Gewer of Tsotsifame, Zulu Wedding promises a playful escapist experience which should appeal to fans of films like Happiness is a Four-letter Word and My Big Fat Greek Wedding. — DDR