(May)being a Bhengu
Nkanyiso Mchunu packed on the muscle, amped up the research and prepared for an uncertain future on Imbewu…
Macingwane (Langalakhe Zwane) the sangoma has an important warning for the Bhengu family from their ancestors: they had better brace themselves! As usual, he is right on the button. Ncgolosi (Tony Kgoroge) and MaZulu (Leleti Khumalo) are headed for a violent confrontation and a dramatic rescue – and that’s the small stuff. Because two days later, Macingwane has another message for the family: Ngcolosi has a son! But alas, the ancestors don’t just snap a photo or send a selfie to make it easy for Ngcolosi.
Prepare to rack your brains about who exactly this son could be. Ngcolosi and MaZulu’s mysterious rescuer won’t be the only option because Ngcolosi’s mistress Zandile (Buhle Samuels) returns with her own stork report too. We spoke to Nkanyiso Mchunu about becoming heroic stranger Nkululeko and how he navigated the idea that he maybe is maybe-isn’t Ngcolosi’s son…
ACTION MAN
Nkanyiso had to prepare for an actionpacked entrance. The first time we see him, he disarms a gunman and beats up the assailant – and it’s a professional job, thanks to Nkululeko’s mysterious past. “There is a lot of action when Nkululeko comes onto the scene because he is a former military man. Everywhere he goes, there is a lot of action,” he hints. And that meant extra work behind the scenes. “We had stunt co-ordinators come in, we had some karate and kung fu masters coming in. At some point I even hurt myself a bit on set while trying to perfect these moves that they were teaching us,” says Nkanyiso excitedly.
FIT FOR FILM
Nkanyiso’s behind-the-scenes preparation included body building and research. “I auditioned earlier in 2018 and they called me in to come and do the screen test. The creative team, the producers and directors called me on the side and said, ‘You are a wonderful performer but listen, you need to pack on some muscle.’ They were already aware that I could perform, but now they just wanted me to look the part. At that time I was just gymming for fitness, so I was told to start doing a lot of cardio and then packing some muscle
so that the character would be believable.” Nkanyiso starts laughing, “When I was told this, it was the beginning of December, so can you imagine? There I was thinking of having a good time and enjoying all the food that comes with the festive season. Instead I had to stay away from that and just get ready.” Christmas lunch is not what generally comes to mind when actors are warned that they will have to sacrifice for their art, but Nkanyiso went in guns blazing. “For about 10 years I was staying in Centurion in Pretoria right next to the army base, so it wasn’t that difficult to do some research into the army. Then I watched a lot of action films and did research that was related to the story. I have never been as excited as that! It was really difficult until January. I was so relieved when they told me, ‘Now you can start maintaining and stop growing the muscle’.”
A FAMILY FEELING
While Nkanyiso was preparing, one of the most important considerations was the fact that his character could be a Bhengu, which meant laying down some subtle groundwork. “Raphael Griffiths, who plays Zithulele, and I are friends from even before. We went to the same drama school. He was the first person I called and I was like, ‘Dude, I just got Nkululeko and it seems that we are going to be playing brothers…’ Working some of Tony’s or Ngcolosi’s mannerisms into my performance was one thing that we spoke about. And he said, ‘Yes, even before the story reveals that Nkululeko and Ngcolosi are related, the public, the audience should be able to tell that they might be related just from a few things’. And it wasn’t just Ngcolosi who I had to do research on. When you are among family members, you’ll notice that there are similarities not just between parents and child, but among all of them. I had to study all of them, from MaNdlovu, who is played by Thembi Mtshali-Jones, to everyone who is a family member who would have Nkululeko’s blood. I took a few things from all of them so that it could show through performance that we are related at the end of the day.”
FATHER’S FOOTSTEPS
Luckily, Raphael wasn’t the only inside help that Nkanyiso had. “I had worked with Tony before. When we did season one of SABC1 drama Ingozi (2017-2018), he auditioned and directed me as Justice, so I grew closer to him. So when he got the role to play Ngcolosi, it was easy for me to identify some of Ngcolosi’s mannerisms from Tony. With Tony I picked up the way that he uses his eyes in his performance because his character is so calm physically, but when you look at his eyes, they tell you the whole story. It might not be convincing when you hear him tell you from the other room that he is going to kill you, but when you look into his eyes, you really believe, ‘This man is going to murder me!’ That is one of the first things that I stole from Tony. I have quite big eyes and I was like, ‘This is my opportunity to really use that.’ So I took the posture and the way that he uses his eyes.”
JUGGLING DOUBT
But Nkanyiso was also given a warning. He was not the only possible Bhengu boy. “Oh my goodness! That one,” he laughs. “That is quite a difficult one because as I was signing the contract, I was called in by the producers and they told me, ‘Your character should be here for some time because you are Ngcolosi’s long-lost son. But just bear in mind that the viewers do have some input, so if we feel that maybe they do not like you, there might be some changes in the story. And then, when the scripts kept coming and there was this story about Zandile’s baby [he laughs helplessly again], as an actor I was worried that all my research that I have done, from studying each family member and taking little bits from each of them, that it was all in vain.”
TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT?
And there was one more confusing factor to juggle. “Nkululeko’s story is taking another turn. He is falling in love with a family member. So now I didn’t know where to stand. If this family member is going to be my family member somewhere down the line, my performance would be different than if they were not. So I had a problem playing my character against the other character that Nkululeko has fallen in love with, because this could be my sister… or this could not? So eh, there was just a lot happening around that.”
Prepare to play detective, Imbewu fans! “To this very day, we don’t know whether or not Zandile is lying. The sangoma has seen Ngcolosi’s son but we are still not sure whether it is Nkululeko that he has seen and that the sangoma has been dreaming about. It’s quite exciting for an actor, because all those mysteries, they just push you to perform to the best of your ability. And really, the less you know, the better,” Nkanyiso says happily.