So long, Aunty Shamilla!
A FILM, a television project and an international tour with his one-man show is in the offing for entertainer and influencer Prev Reddy now that he has retired his alter-ego, Aunty Shamilla.
Within hours of making the announcement last week through a social media video upload, titled “Farewell Aunty S”, the recording had received thousands of views. Reddy unpacked his decision to retire.
He said it came after much reflection. “When my show promoters did Aunty Shamilla’s tour in London last year and my own stand-up comedy show, Qualified Disappointment, we started talking about the new tour that we were going to do this year.
“Ideas were not coming to me easily. At the end of last year, I was away on a shoot for three months, and I wasn’t making as much content as I usually would.
“When the time came to sit down at the end of December, into January and write a new show, I found it easier to write material for me as Prev than to write for Aunty Shamilla.
“After a lot of breakdowns, reflections and therapy sessions, I think I knew subconsciously that it was time to rest the character.
“I have always believed in never forcing content for the sake of content. If I don’t feel inspired to write something, then I won’t force it. After some reflection, I realised I could not write for Aunty Shamilla. When I asked myself why, I realised that my circumstances had changed,” he said.
Reddy said a lot had changed in the five years of performing as Aunty Shamilla.
“When I started, I was 23 years old. I am going to be 28 this year. I spent a lot of my 20s developing the character and spending a lot of time with adults, making adult decisions and adult business decisions. So I feel like I grew up quite quickly. Now when it is time to sit back and write for Aunty Shamilla, I find that things have changed.
“I used to write for her with a mindset and perspective of a teenager or a young adult who has this ongoing relationship with their mum. But now I am an adult, and it’s just not the same.
“Also, I didn’t want to have that sort of Tyler Perry effect. When Madea (Perry’s alter ego) first came out, everyone loved Madea. They loved the movie. And before that, they loved the Madea stage plays. When he started doing movies number eight, nine and 10, everyone was just like, ‘Again, really?’
“I wanted to close Aunty Shamilla’s chapter while everyone still loved her and while she still had adoration from people. I didn’t want it to get to a point where it felt like it was being drawn out for too long.”
Journey
Having started performing on stage in his teens on the Rainbow Young Performers theatre platform, Reddy said he knew from a young age that entertainment was what he wanted to do.
“If you ask my parents, they will tell you I was always ready to perform for the family. I was the class clown, always entertaining … During high school, I performed in several Young Performers Projects. Being in the entertainment industry is all about evolving.”
Reddy said he stumbled upon the character of Aunty Shamilla five years ago.
“Aunty Shamilla wasn’t my plan originally. It was an accident that happened, and I capitalised on that because I had eyes on me. I thought, ‘let me do this so that I can eventually get on to the stage and perform and eventually get in front of the cameras’.”
Last year, Reddy went on tour with his debut one-man stand-up comedy show, Qualified Disappointment, which went on to sell out all 10 shows across South Africa.
“I was very sceptical about doing comedy as myself. Doing a full one-hour, one-man show as me with no gown and no wig gave me the confidence and the realisation to understand that people would still come to watch my comedy, even if Shamilla was not there.
"I think this was something I had been struggling with for the past two years in terms of do I break away and be myself and will the audience still stay or is everyone just here for Aunty Shamilla.
“It has got to a point where I have to just take the risk and retire the role. If it works, it works, and if it doesn't, I’ve just got to figure it out from there. But so far, the response has been very supportive,” he said.
Pressure
Reddy said fame could put pressure on one’s creativity, but the key was to nurture one’s passion and keep a circle of support.
“Consulting family, friends, mentors, and a therapist is important on so many levels. It benefits your craft and your career, and it benefits you as a person.
“Once you start getting famous and getting booked for gigs for example, with me, it started happening at a young age, to be able to travel around to all of these different countries, performing – you have to keep grounded.
“It is important to have your friends and family close to you and to go to therapy. It might not be for depression or anxiety, but sometimes you need to talk to someone who is an outsider, with an outside perspective in order to remain grounded.
“It helps you remember what you are here to do and what you are meant to do. You need to remain grounded mentally in order to progress and change.”
Passion
A career in the arts and entertainment industry was hard work and required dedication and passion, he said.
“The one thing that has always kept me relevant is passion. What we see now on social media is that everyone is enticed by the popularity, the freebies and the glam factor.
“But I would say content creation should be a platform and a springboard to what you really want to do. I have always wanted to act, perform and do comedy.
“The biggest advice I can offer is that you have to be passionate. If you are in it for fame, numbers (likes/clicks) and money, it is going to be a difficult road because that doesn’t just come overnight. It has taken me 10 years since my first Young Performers Project, when I was 14 years old, at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre.
“There are days, weeks and months where you don’t have work, and you don’t know what to do, but it is your passion that keeps you going, not the big brand deals and the awards.
“It’s your passion that will keep you going creatively. And this is what is lacking now in the online space. Everyone is getting in front of a camera to try to get numbers and followers, and make money, but what is your passion?”
Future
In March, Reddy will make his film debut in The Honeymoon. He will simultaneously start his Aunty Shamilla’s farewell tour.
“This is going to be the biggest performance I have done in my career. We are going to be performing at the ICC in Durban and the Lyric Theatre, and Carnival City in Gauteng.
“The show is going to be a 50/50 split between me and Aunty Shamilla. But for me, especially, it’s going to be a big turning point in my comedy career because I am playing at venues that a lot of comics around my age have not really played at before. So we are using this as a sort of springboard for more international tours.
“The Gown, which we toured in the UK, was a tester for us going overseas. We are now planning more international shows towards the end of the year.
“There is another television project coming out at the end of this year, which I cannot speak about right now. And that project is going to take up the latter part of my year.
“Now we are entering the film era, and that has always been the end goal. My end goal has always been TV, film and live stand-up. I started live stand-up a couple of years ago, but now I finally get to be an actor.
“I think when people are watching videos with Aunty Shamilla, Baboo and Aunty Shamilla’s friends, it’s funny, but I’m playing different characters. I’m acting. I love to act. I love to play different characters, and do different things. This is the year for acting for Prev and for Prev to do comedy on his own. It’s a big year for me.”
Taking the plunge
Reddy said when he first went on stage as a young performer in theatre, it was a risk and that uploading his first Aunty Shamilla video was also a risk. All of which have paid off.
“I’ve had people tell me that retiring Aunty Shamilla is the worst decision I could possibly make, and I’ve had people tell me this is the best decision I can make. But I think, in my gut I knew that this was the right thing to do.
“I spoke with Devi Sankaree Govender and Sureshnie Rider, who have been my mentors. Devi’s response was that this is the most mature decision I can make and to expand my career as an artist at this age. After having that conversation with her, I realised it was the right thing to do.
“Choosing to be in the entertainment industry alone is a risk, especially in South Africa and especially being Indian. Indian people in film and TV are few and far between, and the roles for us are few and far between.
“We have to go out there and make our own roles, make our own movies and our own comedy shows. We’ve had the Kandasamys and Jailoshini and Devi and the like. All of them have put the Indian community on the media and entertainment forefront.
“I would like to think that Aunty Shamilla also had a small part to contribute towards that.
“I think now that she has done that, I can now go and represent a new generation of Indian kids and young adults in entertainment, in media, in film and on TV. I am excited for this next phase,” said Reddy.
His Aunty Shamilla farewell tour is called The Mommy’s Boy Tour.
“The name was based on the notion that Indian boys are mommy’s boys, that Indian boys never leave their mothers, and their mothers never leave them. In my case, it is quite literally true because I am Shamilla. But there comes a time when a mommy’s boy has to grow up, and that is what the show is about.”
Tour dates and ticketing information will be posted on Reddy’s social media platforms.