WATCH New South African Comedy ‘Keeping Up With The Kandasamys’ Trailer
“Love Thy Neighbour… But Don’t Get Caught!” is the catch phrase behind a brilliant new South African movie, ‘Keeping Up with The Kandasamys’. Shanti Naidoo and Jennifer Kandasamy are matriarchal rivals of neighbouring families in the South African film, whose young adult children become romantically involved. And the last thing these two Chatsworth mothers need […]
“Love Thy Neighbour… But Don’t Get Caught!” is the catch phrase behind a brilliant new South African movie, ‘Keeping Up with The Kandasamys’.
Shanti Naidoo and Jennifer Kandasamy are matriarchal rivals of neighbouring families in the South African film, whose young adult children become romantically involved. And the last thing these two Chatsworth mothers need is to be related to one another!
The comedy opens a window into the lifestyle and subculture of modern-day Indian South Africans – their aspirations, dreams and challenges.
“I loved shooting this film on location in Chatsworth. It’s an iconic place, like District Six or Soweto. It’s vibrant, lively and spirited, and I believe we have managed to not only capture its idiosyncrasies but also its heart and soul that will make global audiences fall in love with it too, over a barrel full of laughs,” says debut director Jayan Moodley.
The film comes from the producers of Happiness is a Four-Letter Word – one of South Africa’s most successful films: award-winning duo Helena Spring (Academy Award Nominee and Mbokodo-winner) and the late Junaid Ahmed (who sadly passed away in November 2016). The script was co-written by Moodley and Rory Booth.
The movie stars Jailoshini Naidoo (Eastern Mosaic, Lotus FM) and Maeshni Naicker (Broken Promises) as the matriarchal rivals of neighbouring families, and Mishqah Parthiephal and Madhushan Singh as their children.
Mishqah, who is best-known as Vania in the television soap, Skeem Saam, says she drove the six hours from Joburg to Durban for the auditions when she heard about the film.
Moodley says it’s a “universal story of neighbourhood rivalry, our desperate need for acceptance and the climb for perceived societal success… At the end of the day we can all recognise our quirks and foibles and the funny side of the weird, wonderful and strangely competitive world we live in.”
The film features music by Kyle Deutsch and The Parlotones and will be released in cinemas, nationwide, on 3 March 2017.