Peaceful garden is a welcome break from social struggles
Rehad Desai’s abode is an environment that stimulates his creativity
JOHANNESBURG filmmaker Rehad Desai was a baby when his family were exiled to London. His late father, lawyer and political activist Barney Desai, was a leading figure in the ANC and Pan-Africanist Congress and made a lasting impact on the filmmaker.
Family has always been important to Desai and the fact that his father’s political activities took precedence over family life resulted in the children growing closer to their mother, Rose. Desai’s hit documentary, Born into Struggle, chronicles the effects of exile on his family and how problems set in.
Desai, 51, returned to South Africa at the age of 26. It was only then that he realised “how English I was”.
“You’re never at home once you have been exiled,” he said. “I came to South Africa because I wanted to get involved in the movement, and I worked for the National Council of Trade Unions and the South African Chemical Workers’
Our home is never empty — we often have family over, or actors who need a place to stay while we’re filming
Union. Later I did some HIV prevention work. The early 1990s were difficult, but coming back home was the best decision I ever made.”
Desai met and later married his teenage sweetheart, Anita Khanna, in London. They have two sons, Ravi and Nico, and they became grandparents last week.
He gave us a walk around his home in Kensington, Johannesburg, a house built in the 1930s that features pressed ceilings and wooden floors and window frames. It is a haven he also uses as a work space.
“I love sitting out on my porch in the mornings and watching the sun rise, listening to the birds chirp. I am always creating something and I feel this environment stimulates my creativity.
“We’ve been living here for eight years — we used to live in a flat in Killarney. We just love the space we have and being able to enjoy a garden. My wife was sold on the house when she saw the old-style bathroom basins and Victorian bathtub.
“It’s a comfortable home we enjoy with our three dogs — Wolverine, Casper and Daisy.
“Our home is never empty — we often have family over, or actors who need a place to stay while we’re filming.”
When he is not working, he watches TV, his favourite programme being Game of Thrones . He also loves cooking up a storm with recipes by top Indian chef Vivek Singh.
His recently released R5.5-million documentary feature film, Miners Shot Down, chronicles the shocking Marikana massacre in August 2012. It was well received on its first screening in March, which took place in Prague on the opening night of One World, the human rights film festival. It won the Václav Havel Jury Award there and the Justitia Award at the Movies that Matter festival in The Hague, Netherlands.
The film has been seen in many countries and more than 80 screenings have taken place at cinemas in South Africa, but local TV channels have been unwilling to broadcast it.
“The film documentary is unique because it makes you feel as if you are there in the midst of everything, and the mine workers are humanised. We also got access to footage the commission of inquiry on the Marikana massacre did not get and now the film is being used as an exhibit at the commission. We started filming two weeks before the massacre and completed [the documentary ] in February [this year].
“These workers waited for the ANC to come into government and were promised a better life, but they were killed brutally. This is clearly evidence that the ANC is part of our past — we need to look to build something new for our future.”
Desai is planning a film on the women of Marikana about what has become of them since the shootings.
“I am interested in making films where there’s hope — I hope the Marikana massacre never repeats itself. Pictures don’t lie and I would rather show people what really happened than tell them about it,” he said.
Miners Shot Down is now on at Cinema Nouveau outlets nationwide.