TV and film star Nomzamo Mbatha who plays the role of Nandi in the drama series Shaka Ilembe believes the story is important to retell.
Mbatha spoke to the media during the behind-the-scenes tour yesterday at the Cradle of Human Kind, north of Johannesburg, saying they were not only telling the story of Shaka Ilembe, but it was a story of the Ngunis.
Mbatha said to master the role of Nandi, she had to do a lot of research. She said she continued to learn more about the role even while shooting. She said she always wanted to play Nandi from the time she started acting
“If you can listen to my interviews I have always said I wanted to play the Queen Nandi role. I am happy that I had to portray it.”
“This is an important story to tell and we are telling it differently. What makes me happy is that it is a South African story told by South Africans.”
Mbatha, who has been shooting for four months, said the research started six years ago when she was shooting Isibaya. The actress, who is also an executive producer, gladly took the media to the storyline and how it was like to shoot the show.
“The way I wanted to be part of this production I had to turn down some roles to be Nandi.”
Mbatha said the production had employed 8,000 people and had more than 1,000 cast members, including crew and extras.
According to producer Bongumusa Zungu, MultiChoice funded the R90m production, which will be aired next year.
The drama series is being filmed at the Cradle of Human Kind and is one of the biggest TV productions done by South Africans on a South African story. Some parts of it were shot in KwaZulu-Natal.
According to Zungu, the story is told in a different way as compared to other previous Shaka Zulu productions.
“We are telling the story in three phases. We focus on Shaka moving from Elangeni to Sqwabe clan and to Mthethwa clan. We look at Shaka before he was born. We look at people who made the king and the importance of women who raised him. We are telling the love story of Nandi and Senzakhona; we are also telling the story of Dingiswayo and Jobe.”
The storyline also focuses on how Dingiswayo left the Mthethwa Kingdom and came back.
"We telling the story of Zwide, who made sure the king was not starving. We also focused on Nandi and Senzangakhona's love."
Zungu admitted that since it was a massive production, it was tough to shoot and that they are ready for criticism because Shaka’s story is a big one.
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